Dream and Do–>Full Frontal Change

Chet’s latest post “Bon Voyage” has inspired me to “go public” with a idea. May I ask you to help me? I need you to be my “accountability partners” in an important set of changes I am trying to make in my life.

You see, next week I will celebrate my 55th birthday. For all of us born in 1955, 2010 marks the year of “Double Nickels.” So, I guess that’s DOUBLE Double Nickles…

Not that there’s anything wrong with turning 55, but that is beginning to sound old to me. The funny thing is, I don’t feel very old. In fact, I feel about as old as I did when I was 30 or so. In many ways, BUILT TO LEAD has taken years off my “internal age” because I am so jazzed about the work I am doing, the things I am learning, the people I am meeting, the clients I am helping, and the “Band” at BUILT TO LEAD I am playing with.

“PLAYING with”–that’s a deliberate choice of words. You can never really grow old if you keep playing.

All that’s okay, but I need to recognize that one day, sooner or later, entropy is going to catch up with me. Entropy is the law of physics that dictates all ordered systems will degrade to disorder over time. The only way to combat the force of entropy, for a time, is to invest energy to slow its effects–actively to BUILD rather than passively to decline. That’s where I need your help…

So last month I decided to tackle a personal change in behavior in order to counter entropy’s tug on my life. And today I’m going public. “Full frontal change” if you will. I need to surround myself, as Chet suggests, with “accountability buddies.” All of us who decide to undergo positive change need cheerleaders and truth tellers to cement the commitment. It’s not a “new year’s resolution” but me building resolve.

Here’s what I am committed to achieve. This is my “Dream State” of the near future:

“At the age of 55, I am in the best physical condition since I was 19. I have integrated a full range of healthy habits into my daily routine that contribute to an amazing reservoir of energy that carries me through my busy days. These automatic, positive habits range from intense interval and aerobic training six days a week, to better nutrition, hydration, and sleep habits every day. Why? All this is to increase the quantity, quality, focus, and force of the energy and attention I give to serve others in my vocation as a ‘builder of people, leaders, and organizations.’ I have become a positive example, at the age of 55, of how to master the change process BUILT TO LEAD uses. Through this productive action to improve my physical health, and other productive actions in my emotional, intellectual, and spiritual life, I have increased my integrity as someone who practices what he preaches, and tackles what he teaches.”

So, this is more than me trying to lose a few pounds. This is me trying to become a better me. Through this public process maybe, just maybe, I might inspire some of our friends to tackle and sustain some needed change in their lives. At least that’s my hope.

So, I commit to post a public blog here at least once a week until March with a report of my progress against these ten rituals on “HAL”, my Habit Acquisition Log.

You can cheer me on or mock me, whatever fits your style. Either way, I’m more resolved.

Next blog post, I will review the concerning problems within my “Current State” and how I learned that practicing just a few rituals for 12 weeks will change my life…a few habits at a time.

Game on!