Thursday 5/22/2008 – Step 6

Today was a somewhat tough day. After 2 nights of very little sleep, a long day at work, and some unexpected frustrations with this little tour I’m putting together, I was quite exhausted. It was the season premiere of America’s new favorite idol show, "So you think you can dance." And like millions of people around the world, I was sitting on the couch faced with that decision…of whether I was going to pack it in for the night and let my mind tune out with the TV tuned on OR if I was going to get up and go workout. So I made the decision to do what all motivational speakers would – stay at home on the couch! But then for some reason that little voice inside my head told me that with a 3 day holiday weekend coming up I should probably get to steppin. So with a somewhat negative attitude I headed towards Milwaukee’s 14 story Majestic Lofts.

Then something new happened, something different, something extra-ordinary from most stair climbs…I met another human, named Kevin, who was taking the stairs. Kevin wasn’t just taken the joyful jaunt one or two stories…NO! Kevin was making his daily hike, one he has made almost every single day for the past year up to the 14th floor of the tower where he lives! It turns out that Kevin has only been in an elevator once or twice in the past 6 months! Of course there was then only 1 question to ask him- “what do you do when you buy groceries?!” For an extraordinary, disciplined, and most likely unrecognized individual such as Kevin, you guessed it, he carries them up 14 flights of stairs every time. Wow! He told me that one day he just decided “I got fat and so I better start taking the stairs.” He’s been doing it ever since and he told me that it saves him a trip to the gym every day.

To stay committed to such an “inconvenient” task, with so many “reasons” to stray, and with no accountability partner, wow Kevin you are an inspiration. You are disciplined. And yes, you are extraordinary. It was amazing how much meeting him for only a few seconds inspired me to keep steppin. Are you extraordinary? Are you different? Or do you succumb to indulgence because it’s sometimes inconvenient to keep your committments? Majestic Lofts, you’ve been stepped by me and my new hero Kevin.

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Monday 5/19/2008 – Step 5

Well it certainly was interesting traveling all weekend trying to schlep luggage up and down floors without using an elevator. There is nothing like trying to convince a stranger in an airport to watch your luggage in the elevator for you while you take the stairs. Especially with the loud overhead speaker yelling “please do not accept any items from strangers or unknown persons and please report any unattended baggage to airport personnel.” Lucky for me, I’ve been known to talk a few people into a few things (as my buddy Dave says) and I was able to get the help I needed. However, I have been carrying my laptop bag with me up and down all these stairs and it’s incredible how much of a difference an extra couple pounds of luggage dramatically impacts your ability to climb.

So it is with life too, I suppose. We have these little packs of “baggage” in different areas of our life, and the baggage makes it hard for us to climb the stairs and be disciplined the way we would want. I think the biggest form of baggage that most of us deal with is guilt. Carrying guilt around about how we missed a day at the gym, overate from the dessert tray, spent a little too much money at the mall, or lashed out a smidgeon too intensely at someone, doesn’t fuel our desire to “climb” and be disciplined; it only creates more baggage that weighs us down. The only way I’ve found to let go of that guilt is to cowboy up and confront your accountability partner or whoever you wronged in a situation and to be honestly direct and sorry. It’s painful, and it’s not something we want to do, but that’s one more reason why success is doing what others won’t.

Next time you have a “slip up” in your newly found commitment to be disciplined, try to be powerful and confront the idea that you made a mistake so you can move on. What you definitely don’t want to do is try to double up you’re disciplined efforts to make up for it. Because in that way you are taking something in your past and literally carrying it into your future to re-live into it instead of just getting it cleaned up and moving on forever. Example, if you miss a day on the exercise schedule, don’t try to double up the day after. Instead just clean up the fact that you missed it. And re-committ to your original plan. (Boston Lofts got stepped today, 22 floors were with baggage and 45 were without. It’s always easier with less baggage.)

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Friday 5/16/2008 – Step 3

With any goal there are unexpected obstacles. Today was the first day of my official Take The Stairs Tour where I was traveling in an airport. Lugging around 2 suitcases full of product and presentation materials makes it awfully hard to Take The Stairs and I hadn’t really thought about it. However, my commitment to not take an elevator or escalator forced me to really think hard about how I would solve this problem. It didn’t take too long to figure out that my roommate Collin could help me load my luggage in the car. Then a stranger in the airport helped take my bags up to the check-in counter. Upon my arrival I was lucky to have Gustavo Guerra waiting to pick me up to take me to my hotel. And as I arrived at 10pm at the Hilton Hotel in Silver Springs, Maryland I only needed assistance 1 more time.

You should’ve seen the faces of the young Desiree and Sheffine behind the counter when I told them “I’m the Take The Stairs guy.” They lit up like Christmas and said “Yeah, we should take the stairs too. We’ve known for a while that we could use some discipline in our lives.” It’s not just you ladies – we all could. Today on my journey I learned a very powerful and inspiring lesson. Which is “I can’t do this on my own.” In fact, I have to have the help of others. And to see the ones who helped me to be inspired to be more disciplined in their own life is what fuels me to take the stairs at least one more time. Hilton Washington DC/Silver Springs…you just got stepped. Thanks for your help, and the lesson. (I should try to have you sponsor me so I can stay at the top floor of your hotel everywhere I go on my World Tour :-)

Are you allowing other people to help you in your life and in your cause? Remember you can’t light someone else’s candle without also brightening your own. I am sometimes un-disciplined about allowing people to help me. I guess I’m surprised they would and I feel lucky that I have so many people that do.

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Tuesday 5/14/2008 – Step 2

Today we launched the website and had the first person sign up for the take the stairs tour. It is Amanda Johns, who not surprisingly, is also my girlfriend. Nonetheless the concept is taking hold at least on a small scale very quickly. In childlike fashion AJ wanted to join in on the “fun” of climbing public buildings in downtown Milwaukee. And right away just by having one person I noticed a change in the dynamics of the whole thing. Now I would be safer if I endured some injury. Now I had another person’s energy to feed off of. And most of all I had at least 1 person who was buying in to the idea of joining me to do something we didn’t really want to do for the purpose of building some self-discipline.

As AJ danced up the stairs (probably rocking out on her IPOD to some weird mix of Tina Turner, Hansen, and Michael Jackson) I realized how “mindless” my journey had been the day before. I had kind of forgotten what I was doing and just started plowing away in a somewhat numbing climb to the top of the building just because I said I would. Yet today there was something different. I guess it was more…..fun. Laughing hysterically at her groovy dance moves couldn’t help but make the journey more enjoyable for me. I think many people have the idea that self-discipline can’t be fun in the short term. While I frequently remind myself of the payoffs in the long term, today I was reminded that like everything it can be fun…if you or someone next to you chooses to make it that way. Oh, and 22 floored Wisconsin Tower, you got stepped. ..and danced on.

Are you proactively seeking out and surrounding yourself with people who make you laugh every day? Or is your lack of self-discipline allowing you to simply co-exist with those most convenient to be around?

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Monday 5/13/2008 – Step 1

There I was rushing across the parking lot with my new tennis shoes on ready to race up the first of what would be many staircases as I embark on my “Take The Stairs World Tour”. As with all new ventures, a sense of hope filled me as my mind dreamed of thousands of people climbing stairwells all around the world showing their commitment to living a new, more disciplined life. This bright shiny blue building would be the first, and someday famous (at least to me), building that marked the beginning of a new movement in my life except…the door was locked. “Building Closed from 6pm to 6am,” the sign read.

Ironic. Isn’t that how life always is? We set out a brand new resolution to do something we’ve always said we should do and then right away some person, issue, or unforeseen challenge interrupts our new life trajectory before we barely get off the ground. But, even though we will all face these kind of laugh-able moments there are literally dozens of opportunities in our near proximity at any given moment and like all things the answer to our problem is behind the next door. I’ve had many a door closed on me before so without too much complaining I reminded myself that the answer is behind the next door and I headed across the street to the 25 floor Milwaukee Hilton. Milwaukee Hilton you were the first public building to get stepped…twice.

What setbacks do you face in your life where you need to discipline yourself not to get all emotional and upset and instead just remind yourself that the answer’s behind the next door?

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