What Could You Do In Nine Months?

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What Could You Do In Nine Months?

If you were 100% focused on how wisely you used your time, and focused on accomplishing a goal, what could you do in nine months?

Right before the wedding

About two years ago I was getting ready for my brothers wedding, I was his best man. As I was putting on my suit I had to acknowledge in my mind some things that I really didn't want to acknowledge. Let me tell you honestly, it was extremely hard to get my suit on and not pop a button!

I went to the wedding and the whole time I felt really uncomfortable, the thoughts that were running through my head took away from the experience of the wedding. After the ceremony we took wedding pictures, no big deal there. The problem came a few weeks later when I finally got a chance to see the pictures.

At the moment I first saw the pictures, I couldn't deny it anymore, I couldn't make anymore excuses, the cold truth was evidenced in my hand, I was FAT! Now I hate to use that word but I just want to tell you what I thought at that moment. At the time of his wedding I weighed 332 pounds, it's hard for me even to write that number.

Seeing the pictures was my wake up call, enough was enough, I had to do something about this. I went out the next day and joined a gym, I would to that gym for 3 hours a day, 6 days a week, I was determined to lose the weight. I started an intense diet that only allowed me to eat one meal a day (about 1,200 calories). All of this was pretty extreme and I lost 132 pounds in 5 months, and I'm dead serious about that time frame.

Dan Miller wrote the NY Times best-selling book: "48 Days to the Work You Love" which talks about finding or creating the work of your dreams in 48 days, pretty crazy, right?

We can accomplish some amazing things when we decide to focus and have a plan

Are there things in your life right now that you want to change or are you lying to yourself like I was? Just like it was for me, that nagging feeling doesn't go away and it's there for a reason, sooner or later you're going to have to deal with it. Losing weight was the right thing to do for me, I could give you study after study as to why, but more than that I needed to do it for me. I wasn't happy with how I looked, I wasn't happy with how I felt, and it wasn't a good example for my kids. So I got on a plan and I had unwavering focus and guess what? It worked. Whatever changes you want to make for your life are totally possible with a plan and focus, the only thing really holding you back is YOU (and me). As a Christian I knew my Lord wasn't happy about my weight, I was overindulging and I felt that the verse in Romans 12:1 applied, my body was far from a temple.

Making changes in your life gradually (here is an excerpt from my new book):

"Two years ago I decided I wanted to change my weight, so I hit it very hard and lost 132 pounds. The problem was I didn't do it gradually. I would go to the gym for four hours a day and ate 1,200 calories a day. Yeah, I lost the weight super-fast, but I was always tired, always cranky. I didn't do it gradually, so I didn't learn some valuable lessons, and as a result I gained all the weight back and more. Going slow teaches you the importance of never going back to what you just changed. If you move to fast you might end up hitting a bump, falling down, and then getting so frustrated that you give up. Go slow; look at it as a marathon and not just a quick race.

Remember that you are radically changing things forever, so go slow and make sure it's done right and in a way where you won't have to go back and change your changes! By taking things gradually, you see things more clearly, seeing the "bumps" before you hit them!

You'll naturally be impatient, naturally want to steamroll forward. You can do this and probably make some progress, but in the end you'll have missed the lesson which will blind you from seeing things creep up back on you. For me, I didn't learn to moderate my workouts, so when I lost the weight I had a false sense of how much working out I needed to do.

Even now, learn from my mistake and learn each lesson as we go through these months. Learn how to make these changes gradually, learn what got you to where you were. Use this information to fight any attempts by yourself or anyone else to drag you down. We're not going back there, right?"

One of the reasons we constantly go through a seesaw cycle of starting to make changes and quit, is because we move too fast and don't learn the valuable lessons that will keep us from going back. I can tell you this for a fact, that's why one year after losing that weight I gained 144 pounds right back! (It really hurts to tell the truth!)

Nine months to radically change your life!

Some of what I've shared with you today and in other blog posts is why I wrote this new book. I had written my first book as a part of chasing my dreams to get away from a job that I hated, it took me away from my family with the odd hours and days. It took me away from going to church and being involved in ministry opportunities, when I talked to my Pastor and told him I was going to quit, he said praise the Lord. He felt like the job incumbered my life and kept me away from the things that are important to me. I wanted to get the message about your work affecting your life out to the entire world!

Between the first book and this new book was a good amount of time where I started and stopped three different books, I just didn't have peace about each of the books. Then my wife and I felt the Lord talking to us about some things that we needed to get right and change in our life. We followed the call and starting making changes in our lives and as we we're doing it, I felt inspired and called to tell others how to make changes that stick, loosely based off of what we're going through.

So this new book was born and that's why I hope people can relate to it. I'm not some millionaire who hires ghost writers to write about something he doesn't know about to make money off of you and me. I'm an everyday, average guy who has struggled with the same issues for a long time and has finally had enough. I know what you're going through because I'm going through those same things. I have seen a little success and feel my calling is to give back and show you how you can do it and why you should do it.

Is it God's will?

I talk a lot about finding work that you love and some of my Christian friends talk about the Lord opening and closing doors, Dan Miller wrote an awesome post that really explained this well: http://www.48days.com/2012/02/22/god-closing-doors-calling/ you have to be really honest with yourself and really listening to the voice of our Lord.

If you take nine months to radically change your life, you can change the world (another excerpt from my book):

"Changing the world starts with you!

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits,

I dreamed of changing the world.

As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change –

So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country,

But it too seemed immovable.

As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt,

I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me,

But alas, they would have none of it.

And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first,

Then by example I might have changed my family,