Earlier this week I committed to myself that I would get back into peak physical fitness before my wife gives birth to our baby (she is about 4 month pregnant at the moment). There were two main factors that prompted me to make this commitment:
- I had just spent a couple of hours playing with my 3 year old niece and realised that she still had plenty of energy at the end of it and I didn’t. If I had trouble keeping up with a young child I played with once or twice a week, how did I expect to keep up with my own child growing up?
- I recalled that the last couple of times I have played touch I have not had the speed or stamina that I used to. For someone who has always prided myself on my level of fitness and sporting ability, this was a tough admission to make.
You will notice that both of these reasons have a high degree of emotional leverage (at least for me). To me, this is the difference between a decision (which has a low chance of success) and a commitment (which has a much higher success rate).
The interesting thing is that when I made this commitment, I had no idea exactly how I was going to do it. Amazingly, within 24 hours I had the perfect opportunity arrive in my inbox.
A good friend on mine, Keri Norley, has just developed a new health and fitness program and was looking for a number of people to trial the program and provide feedback. Not only does the description of the program match exactly what I am looking to achieve, but I get to do the program for free (well, Kerri is looking for a testimonial and some referrals, but I think that is pretty reasonable).
Some may say that this is just "coincidence" or luck, but it got me thinking.
I started thinking of all the times that I had set a goal, or had a desire, and then started to notice opportunities that would help move me towards that goal. I remembered times when I had acted on these opportunities, and more would then appear in my path.
Even more interestingly, I remembered times that I did not think any opportunities appeared. On further reflection, I realised that one of two things had happened in these cases:
- There were actually opportunities available to me, but I just didn’t recognise them at the time. Sometimes I had been looking so hard for a specific opportunity, that I had completely missed what was actually available to me.
- The goal was not in line with what I really desired. In these cases I was setting the goal with my head and not my heart - there was no emotional commitment to the goal.
It is amazing how the universe conspires for our success. All we need to do is keep our eyes and hearts open to the pointers it sends us.
BTW - I will keep you updated on the results I get from Keri’s program.
written by Warren Denley