You know the person, the fit jacked uncle, or the friends mom with the killer arms? You’re at a wedding and can’t stop starting at the defined arms and shoulders of Aunt Karen. Or you were in the grocery store and an older gentleman with grey hair had the best calves you’ve ever seen, like one of those Greek Gods chiseled out of stone.
I’ve got a question for you:
When you see someone in their 50’s, 60’s, or even 70’s who is noticeably excellent physical shape, how is it you think they got there?
Do you really think they started working out 12 weeks ago, did a crash diet, and crammed in a workout every day of the week.
No, they started years ago.
Decades ago.
Alright, another question. Totally different this time:
If you were to be given a task to build the largest, most anti-fragile business you could possibly build – and you had unlimited money and resources, but only had a year to do it, what would you do?
You may not have the first clue about building a business, but read on, it’ll make sense.
Now, lets say you were given the same task, same resources and budget, yet you were given a 10 year timeline. The question becomes: What would you do differently?
In the first scenario, you’re pressed for time. So you’ll likely make some not-so-calculated decisions. You’ll spend money and do things that you probably shouldn’t because you’re in such a rush. You’ll duct-tape parts of the business together just to get them to work, for now. Most of all, you’ll lack the building of a really solid foundation. There’s not enough time to train the staff to be the best. You skip the market research and base things off of “feeling” and guesses. There’s not enough time to build the most dialed in fool-proof systems for your team to adhere to. Again, you make things work,… for now. But ultimately, this high pressure – short – timeline for this insurmountable task causes you to take shortcuts, patch things together that you otherwise probably shouldn’t have, and build a business that will likely fail shortly after as it didn’t have a strong foundation.
What would happen differently in the 10 year scenario? Everything. You’d do the opposite of everything you were rushing to do in the 1 year timeline.
The market research would lead to making smart, calcuated business decisions.
You’d have time to hire and train the right people.
You’d have time to focus on creating systems that those people can follow, that help the business continually operate at a high level and grow year over year.
The foundation would be strong enough to support years of business growth both from company size as well as revenue.
The resources were the same, the only difference: The timeline.
How to be Fit at 50?
When we think about Aunt Karen with the muscular arms, or Grocery Store Steve with his “cant-look-away-calves”, we have to understand that they built their bodies with the long term mindset, while never being concerned with some short-term arbitrary finish line. Sure, they likely had goals along the way, but never a true destination.
This is a major problem I see in the fitness industry today. Everyone wants the 6 week challenge, 12 week plan, or 75-day life changing program. Although all of these are good starting points, they all also have end-points. That’s the issue. There’s no end to getting in shape, looking great, and being healthy. This isn’t something you decide to do at 35 for a few months and then give up on. If so, at 36 you won’t be able to tell any difference at all.
We have to stop trying to “build a 10 year business” on a 1 year plan. It doesn’t work.
The crazy workout routine that you can’t keep up,…
The diet you know you can’t continue on with for over a few months or you’ll go crazy,…
The thought that “If I just grind it out long enough I’ll get there,”…
These are all the wrong way to approach your fitness. You’ll never be Karen or Steve until you come to terms with the fact that this is a forever thing. Set the target 20+ years from now, and when it approaches, by then you’ll have forgotten there was even a target to begin with.
Slowly improve your diet, one little piece at a time. Not all at once.
Start strength training, even if its just with a few push-ups a day. It’ll come.
Keep track of what you did this week, and next week, do just a tiny bit more.
Let these actions turn into habits, and let them compound for years.
That’s the secret.
This is what we practice and preach daily at my gym, Rampage. Our motto is “Feel 10 years younger” and the only way to do that is to start now, and keep going.
Here’s to a lifelong journey of fitness. Cheers.