Ready, FIRE, Aim

I have a confession to make. I'm a planner. I like to have everything figured out before I start a project. And then summer of 2008 rolled around. This was when I decided to leave the corporate world and pursue my passion for fitness and nutrition and helping people reach their fitness goals. But I've always come up with great ideas and then I'd never follow through. I would take time to plan out every step and essentially become paralyzed by the planning process. I needed to take action then adjust as I went along. So within a few days I was enrolled in a certification program and was ready to quit my job. Thing is I've made tons of adjustments as I go. All the knowledge I gain and people I work with have helped me to narrow my focus and adjust my goals. I like the analogy of the snowball at the top of the mountain (I'm stealing this from Alwyn Cosgrove.) Picture yourself at the top of a mountain with a snowball. You want to push the snowball down to the bottom, making it go in a certain direction, and make it bigger as it goes down. You can come up with an elaborate plan taking into account weather and wind and every possible scenario. But as you're planning the snowball remains at the top of the mountain. Instead you can just push the snowball and run alongside adjusting on the fly. All the planning in the world doesn't matter until you take action. Ready, FIRE, Aim. If you want to get in shape, start today. Take action. This may mean hiring a trainer or joining a gym. But do something. Do not put it off until next week as you devise a 12 week plan. And don't wait until the new year. You have 25 days until January 1st. Why waste even one of those days? Move fast, and make adjustments as you go.