I started reading Rory Vaden’s book Take The Stairs today. It’s a book about success and self-discipline. Within the first few pages I already wanted to turn it off (listening on audio) because he was talking to me. My first instinct has always been to look for an easier way. A shortcut. In school, I’d always create my own math shortcuts so that I wouldn’t have to show my work. I didn’t understand how if I could figure it out in my head why I needed to do the work on paper. It didn’t make sense to me… until now. It wasn’t about the solution, it was about the work. It wasn’t about the destination it was about the journey and the steps it took to get there.

Hard work is avoided because it’s hard. I don’t want to do the hard work but If I want the destination, I have to show my work. Showing your work is intentional. It’s a practice. It’s a discipline. It’s something that I’ve never felt like doing. But I understand that If I want to define the destination, I have to choose to wake up and make the decision to do the things I don’t feel like doing, everyday, for the rest of my life, to get there.

We live in a calculator culture. We want to race to the solution without doing any of the work. No I’m not going to stop using a calculator but I am going to stop pretending that instead of showing my work, I can punch in a few numbers, hit a button to get my answer. Success is: Hard work paired with intentionality focused on your definition of success. No calculators allowed. Show your work.

We know all of this. It’s not rocket science. We know what we have to do to be successful in every area of our life: work, health, fitness, relationships, finance. But as Rory Vaden says, “We know what we should do… we just never get around to it.” When I heard that this morning, I wrote this in my notebook in BIG, BOLD, “look at me” letters:

Get Around To It.

Happy Monday!

Chris