Be sure you get what you came FOR!

Every Tuesday morning I wake up at 4:30 AM. With groggy inefficiency, I get my workout clothes on and brave the cold for a 5:15 Spin Class at my gym. This morning, the instructor breathlessly hollered out something that really resonated with me. This is what she said,

 “What did you wake up early for? Be sure you get what you came for!”

There is so much wisdom, inspiration and a practical challenge in those few words. For one, it assumes PURPOSE. It assumes that you were UP to something when you woke up early to start your day “spinning”. Next, it projects full responsibility and demands action. You see, when you are cycling, you encounter various hills, jumps and steep climbs. You feel like giving up… taking it easy… coasting. YET, these words remind you that you had a purpose for waking up. They remind you that no one is coming to give you the goals you aspire to achieve. You must go after them yourself. And, the words demand action…You must pedal harder and faster to “break through” a particularly difficult climb. And you can always break through – but only as a result of your own efforts.

What a powerful success lesson in my spin class this morning!!! I left re-invigorated and inspired and challenged to “get what I came for”. Here are the commitments I challenge you to make this week:

• PURPOSE – Have a purpose for going to “work”. KNOW what you want to achieve – BEFORE – you enter your daily “to do” list. Don’t leave your life or your business to chance. There is too much at stake for such a passive approach. Determine ahead of time what you came for. If you don’t have a purpose that pulls you forward and demands your best, just roll over and go back to bed.

• RESPONSIBILITY – We all have challenges we encounter when we are truly “up to” something. If not, we would all be thin, wealthy, and happily engaged in this ride called life.  But the results you see right now are yours alone – good, bad, ugly, exciting, or disappointing. If you are to see a breakthrough in 2010 or a realization of your (hopefully audacious) goals, it will be because you had clarity of purpose and a dogged determination to “get what you came for”. Here’s a tip I learned from Steve Chandler of www.clubfearless.net. No one is coming. It’s up to you.

 • ACTION – To have a breakthrough of any kind (financial, physical, spiritual, relational, whatever) will require you to do more than you did before. It will require you to pedal harder and faster to make it over the same hill that defeated you in the past…. You CAN beat, defeat, or move around any obstacle in your path… but it will cost you. ACTION: the only TRUE secret to success.

If you’re willing, join me for a year of PURPOSE, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, and ACTION. 2010 will not break me, intimidate me, or have me roll over and play dead when things get tough, scary, or uncertain. Because I can always pedal faster, harder. I can always respond, take action and create results.

BTW, I’m so thankful you are with me. If I were alone on this journey of entrepreneurship, it’d be a lot less rewarding. To US!