My friend Rich has  a great story to share:

He wanted an 8 pack set of abs, so he started the Paleolithic diet. The End.

Bam – that’s it. That’s his reason. Eat better, live better, for better abs.

I love this story tremendously. See, in the story he feels embarrassed that he’s doing all these great, healthy, life-changing things for what is ostensibly a narcissistic goal of physical aggrandizement. And I say “so what?” So what if the reason is not “good enough” by other people’s standards? The results are still the results. You can get a better reason later – there’s always room for growth. But to start the path of healthy body and mind, sometimes you just need any flimsy reason to kickstart your journey. In fact, I’d bet that the more petty the reason, the easier it is to coax yourself into doing it.

I want to lose 20 lbs so I can get laid more.

I want to finish top of the class so I can coast next year. 

I want to earn enough money so I can check out Barcelona for three months. 

I don’t often hear people say “I want to lose 20 lbs so that I offset the prevalent diabetes that plagues the men in my family when they hit their mid-50s…”  or “I want to earn enough money so that I can volunteer my time for more altruistic causes…” (And yes, it’d be a great thing if I did hear that). Those might be the long-term goals; those might be the real reason why you NEED to struggle, but those reasons may not be what gets you started.

And that’s where I’m going with this article. The reasons you start something may not be the reason why you stick with it, and it may not be the best reason to do anything.

now this is happening: