Let's use today's workout, or if you are just trying to get your first workout in years done, as an example. What I love is that this works for beginner to elite and all in between. Identify your first step and ask the question "Can I put on my running shoes?" STOP, answer the question. Yes you can! Now ask, "Can I take just one more step? Can I walk out the door?" (I am assuming you have answered the "Can I get dressed question"). STOP. Answer the question. Don't listen to any of the mind's background noise. Of course you can.
Does the scheduled distance of the workout have you beaten before you begin? It makes no difference if today's walk/run is 1 block or 20 miles. Ask yourself the question, "Can I take just one step?" STOP, answer the question. Yes You Can! Can you take another step? Yes You Can!! How about just one more? YES!!! Can you feel what is happening? Can you feel the momentum you are building? Congratulate yourself every step of the way. Hooting, hollering, self hi fives are all great things. Look yourself square in the mirror, saying "YOU ARE ON FIRE!"
This is the genius of "JUST ONE STEP." It places you perfectly in the moment, and in the moment, anything is possible. The one block walk that seemed so difficult to start just 10 minutes earlier is now underway. You have created momentum and now there is no stopping you...that block is going down!! Even cooler is the fact that you may create so much momentum, you walk a block and a half. Is today's workout a 20 miler? Doesn't matter the distance, this works every time and at any time.
"JUST ONE STEP" is undefeated. It NEVER fails, no matter where you apply it. Starting a business? Focusing on steps 28, 47 and 94 can lead to never taking step ONE. Identify the goal, the steps needed to attain the goal and then dedicate to only one thing...THE FIRST STEP. Step two will wait patiently for you. It isn't going anywhere. Wanting to take that dream vacation? Identify where and when and what is the very first thing that needs to be done in order to take the trip. Don't let your mind wander. Take "JUST ONE STEP". Will the journey, the challenge be without difficulty or challenge? Perhaps yes, more likely, no. Will it take a few unpredictable turns? Hopefully. We call that adventure. If at any point you begin to feel overwhelmed, don't freak, you got this. That feeling is a great alarm. Take a few deep breaths, slow down and identify exactly what needs to be done next. Remember, you can always take "JUST ONE STEP". And just like that you are back in business, centered and on to the next step.
At the age of 26, I decided I would not drink TODAY. I might get drunk as a skunk tomorrow, but just not TODAY. Can you guess what my mantra was the next day? I identified my goal to quit drinking, but it was overwhelming. NEVER is a VERY long time. Today I could handle.
In 2009 I decided to try and run across the state of Iowa a marathon a day for 11 days in a row, 292 miles. I had never done as many as two marathons back to back. When times got tough I always asked "Can you take just one more step?" The answer was always yes. In 2012 I decided to take on Lake Michigan, 1037 miles in 40 Days. I estimated the journey to be 2,000,000 steps. Many days the first conversation was, can I make it three steps from the foot of the bed to the toilet in the RV? I would not, could not allow thoughts of the 50,000 steps that lay in wait, to do so would have paralyzed me. The answer to the 3 steps to the "loo" question was always yes and it allowed for the "Can I put on my running shoes" question (remember that one?), which was also always a "Yes" and just like that I was out the door and underway.
Each "JUST ONE STEP" allows you to see a greater vision of what is possible. It allows you to see what would have otherwise been hidden from your view. The beauty of "JUST ONE STEP" is that it always entices you to take another, and then another, and yet another. You become your own snowball gaining in size and speed, eventually rolling nearly without effort, unstoppable.
Two promises I can make you. One...100% of things never started, fail. Two, someday, you will look back in awe of where "JUST ONE STEP" led you.
Dream Big Dreams,
Steve Cannon
