Just Start

I'm back in the US, at my base– where things are comfortable and familiar and I have plenty of space of my own to do my thing. I've traveled for seven months this year– two months in south Mexico and five months in Europe. I find it very difficult to have the healthy daily habits like exercising, stretching, meditating, writing, and working on creative projects while on the road. To create the daily structure and routine one has at home I find impossible.

On one of my last days in Paris, I saw a guy doing push-ups on the ground of the mens bathroom. My OCD was a bit freaked out: his hands on the disgusting god-knows-what ground and no shower after– no way. My hat goes off to him. I don't know how people do it. And clearly this guy showed me how. You just do it.

Now, my hygiene habits aside (which I think are very good, thank you; and yes, I do challenge myself on them from time to time, letting go a bit, but...). Anyway, the way I look at traveling is simple: I am there to discover and learn about this new place and I will most likely never be there again. So, all my time goes into taking in as much as I can while I'm there. And thus, there goes many of the positive daily habits I like doing.

There is a nine hour difference between Paris and my base in Phoenix. That's huge. Your whole day is completely off– not to mention the drag of twenty plus hours of traveling. I've crossed the pond with nearly two dozen return flights. The jet leg can rock you. But this time I was really keen to get settled and back into a productive healthy routine. My first full day back was a Sunday. I wanted to get into building my positive daily habits, but I decided to do housekeeping things and reestablish a baseline– a clean slate, if you will, from which to start. You have to clean up the past to make room for the future. So I did. And I'm better for it. Because come Monday, I was ready– all my travel stuff was clean and put away; I had also given myself a haircut, went food shopping for the week, and caught up on relationships.

I still had jet leg Monday, but I didn't care. No excuses. I started my daily habits: stretching, meditating, exercising, swimming laps, writing morning pages, and most importantly, writing the book I was supposed to have written in Europe. I just started. I had my plan, my structure, and did my best. I did it all. Maybe not in their respective time slots, but I did them. It's day nine and I'm still going strong. Writing is currently 1,000 words a day in a 3-hour chunk, the exercises are low rep/high sets, and swimming is a low time slot, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that I just start. Allow myself to get used to the processes, acts, movements, again– build the muscle. I can increase it as I get used to the mechanics and have greater strength and skill, through repetitive practice.

It'll take time. Patience. Deliberate practice. Discipline and dedication. And you know what, the pain I am going through feels good. It tastes good. I chose it. And I like it. I look forward to seeing what it all turns into. Like a finished book for publication!

Choose your pain. Visualize and feel the goal as done. Create the positive daily habits of action towards fulfilling that goal. Fall in love with the process. And watch it all unfold and come together. Then, celebrate.

You just have to start.