Day #275: It Is Earned, Not Given

Success is earned. Not given. This is it. You have 90 Days left of the year and it is the final stretch and a chance to apply some real change in your life.

90 Day’s may still seem a long time for you – but it is not. Looking at 90 days and thinking what can I do, will enable you to think more precise as you know the time is limited – which in theory should give you that extra motivation, as it will give you the fear of missing out.

You have a real shot of changing your life and the decision is to be made today. Maybe you want to lose some weight, run further, read more, be more, start this, or achieve that. Maybe you want to grow your art skills or writing skills – to do something about it for the next 90 days.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” –  Wayne Gretzky

Earlier this year I told you that if you want results, you need to apply some action and keep momentum. While at the same time if you apply daily discipline and create a new habit through willpower to prove to yourself that you even can do it – then you will be motivated more and more by the result.

Forming habits can be hard or really, really simple. It is all about limits, quotas, and challenges. With only 90 days remaining – you have a wonderful chance to still make some noise and a big enough impact to whatever it is you wish to do. All you need to do is set yourself a daily quota to do something and this will enable you to more likely stay dedicated.

So what will you do? Grow your mind? Read more books? Develop your writing passion?

In quota terms, this is how you could do it: “Do 20 math exercises a day”, “Read a chapter a day”, “Write 500 words a day”.

Make this a priority for each day for the next 90 days (starting today).

Then you need to just evaluate what this can do for you. Remember to make sure you pick something realistic.

I say keep it smaller to enable consistency.

Now you want to take whatever it is and calculate the development of this daily discipline.

• If you do 20 math problems a day, for example, after 30 days you’re 600 problems smarter. So for 90 days, that’s 1800 problems solved.
• If you read a chapter a day, after 2 weeks you have read the entire book (based on the average book size). So for 90 days, that’s roughly 6 books.
• If you write 500 words a day, after 2 months you end up with the equivalent of a full novel. 90 days would mean the equivalent to almost 2 novels.
• There are plenty of 30 day running plans equating to 30 miles (48kms), so how about going for 90 days and hit just shy of 150kms.

Where the real magic is found is if you improve your effort by increments every day for the next 90 days instead of not or even less.  My favorite example on this is push-ups.

Start with a baseline of 1 push up. Then increment daily by 1. The next day, do 2 and so on. So by the end of 90 days, you will do 90 push-ups on your final day. But think of the compounding. If you do not increment each day by 1, by the end of the year you have done 90 push-ups. BUT! If you increment by 1 each day for the next 90 days. By the end of the year, you have done 4094 push-ups. And that’s just push-ups. Imagine what you could with all your other goals! But if you can already do 50 starts from there, that’s 8505.

The point is, go back to your list of goals for the year and have a look at what you have and have not done. Don’t waste any more time and pick one goal that requires action and makes it your priority today. The more time you invest, the higher return. 

Just like when I go for a run, the final 500m is where I push the hardest, I fight for a burst of energy and a bolt of speed to wipe off some of those slacked seconds. It is my chance to finish strong, to finish on top and to come out with a smile. This is what you are doing. If you have been taking it easy this year, it is time to make the final sprint and really make it count. No, you may not reach the final tip of your goal, but you will make noise and make enough effort to make you realize you have what it takes.

With this said – this will only work if you take action and invest the little time left.

“The biggest difference between success and failure is total time invested.” – Oliver Emberton

Photo Credit: Instagram @s.dem_ | Location: Greece