People who succeed with health and fitness (or anything else) have a big picture view.
They realize that the choices they make today make their tomorrow.
Stephen Ambrose’s book Nothing Like It in the World tells the story of the transcontinental railroad in America. “The railroad took brains, muscle, and sweat in quantities and scope never before put into a single project,” Ambrose wrote.
Ambrose talks about how certain California people wanted to have a celebration as the project began. Dignitaries were invited to the place where the first rail was to be laid.
Perhaps the most important west coaster backer of the project, Collis Huntington, was invited, but he declined saying:
“If you want to jubilate (celebrate) over driving the first spike, go ahead and do it. I don’t. Those mountains over there look too ugly. We may fail, and if we do, I want to have as few people know it as we can….”
Huntington realized that it wasn’t about driving the first spike. That was easy. There would be months of hard work between the first and last spike.
While there is nothing wrong with acknowledging or celebrating the start of something, the key is to have a sense of direction and the resilience to continue until the goal is reached.