Recently Brian Solinsky started a group on AR called the running challenge. I think I'm the only other member thus far, but it's already helped me in various ways. I was a little sad on my run jog this morning. As I plugged along with Sebastian, his tounge hanging out and his sides jiggling a bit...my mouth hanging open and my sides jiggling a bit, I wondered how we got here. Let me take you back...
When I adopted Seb 8 years ago, he was a sleek, 55lb workhorse of a dog who had been badly neglected and abused. I was a sleek 165lb distance runner who wanted a canine running partner. I was told by his rescuers to build him up slowly, so I started him on a 3 mile run. He looked at me like, "Thanks dad, when do we get to do a real run?" By week's end, he was gladly trotting along beside me for my 7 mile run. He even came with me one Sunday for my 11-miler, and despite doing fine, I was worried that'd be too much and kept him at 7 miles a day, 5 days per week. He was fit and happy for the first time in his life, and I was fit and happy that he was happy.
Fast forward to today. He's 9 years old (we think), 65lb, and a bit rounder. Why? Because I'm 8 years older now than I was then, and I'm 30lbs heavier now than I was then. I quit exercising, which by default meant he quit. I ran into a friend who helped me train Seb, and her eyes got big and she exclaimed, "Is that Seb?" He was so much bigger and had lost his muscle. Shortly thereafter, I saw a photo of me on the beach and my eyes got big and I exclaimed, "Is that me?" I had gotten a lot bigger.
I realized that my health, and thus Seb's health, isn't too unlike my real estate business' health. Years ago I was putting my energy into all the right things, regardless of how hard they were. Running 50 miles per week (Seb joining me for 35) was hard, but it worked. Eating was easy, and it was necessary too. My combination of the hard and easy tasks was keeping me and Seb fit. When I quit doing the hard tasks (running) and kept up the easy ones (eating), we both lost our fitness.
When I'm on my game in real estate, I focus on all the right things. 3 hours of lead generation a day is hard. Checking emails and reading blogs is easy (but necessary). When I'm doing the hard tasks, my business flourishes and I'm fit and my database is fit too. When I let up on the hard tasks (lead generating) and continue the easy ones (how many times can I check email in a day?), my business starts getting soft and my database (or insert pipeline, or future) gets soft too.
I'm happy to say I'm turning my fitness around. I've lost 6lbs in the last 6 weeks, but it's HARD. I'm not running 50 miles per week at 7 minutes per mile. I'm running 15 miles per week at 8:30 per mile and it's harder than ever before. My business is getting healthy again, too, but it's HARD. Once you let off the lead generating, you don't just pick up where you left off. There's a long, hard, period of trying to build back up. Getting into shape (physically or in business) is a LOT harder than staying in shape.
But it's worth it. For me, for Seb, and for my business. Thanks to Brian for getting this group going to offer further encouragment. Thanks to my office for providing tools, systems, and support for getting my business back together. Thanks to any of you with tips and insight for keeping this going.
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