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I'm a pretty short guy.
As I was growing up, I was so thin my parents and grandparents felt it was their sacred duty and obligation to make me eat something, anything—lest I die of starvation.
I had not been to a gym and had been mocking those on a diet until my late 20s.
My diet had always been of the 'eat-all-you-can-eat' kind—and still I had been very slim.
And then I started noticing that with each new Christmas celebration, it was harder for me to get back in shape.
At first, all it took was just having a few off days a year and an occasional visit to the gym.
And I mean occasional.
As in 3-4 times a year.
Soon, it wasn't working anymore.
My divorce helped.
With no consistent flow of new culinary temptations created by your ex and with plenty of things to spend your negative energy on, you tend to lose weight pretty quickly.
I totally recommend it. :)
My new wife is even better at cooking... (with her proofreading these newsletters, would I dare say otherwise?)
So pretty quickly I rediscovered whatever weight I lost in the divorce.
And as the years went by, it was becoming gradually more difficult to control it.
It became something that was nagging me.
At first, small measures worked.
Like 2 one-week sessions of moderate dieting one year.
Or doing some cardio at the gym a couple of days a week.
And then, it wouldn't work anymore.
That's how I discovered 4-hour diet from Tim Ferriss.
At first I thought it was working—until I realized that it really wasn't anymore.
Then I discovered the infamous buckwheat diet.
It's when for the entire week, the only thing you are allowed to eat, in any quantities, is undercooked buckwheat.
It's so disgusting—especially that slimy substance that it oozes—that the idea that you can eat it in unlimited quantities does not really help.
By the end of day 5, I became a monster.
I hated my life.
I hated everyone around me.
I lost a few kilograms, which I didn't regain for another maybe 4 or so months.
And then, when I went through another buckwheat hell, the results only lasted for about a week or so.
That was the end of the buckwheat challenge for me.
I sort of gave up on it.
But it was still nagging me.
I realized that my brain kept registering fit people around me, which I had never paid attention to before.
Musicians, friends, actors, passersby, public speakers...
OK, SOME of them...
Their fit bodies seemed to reproach me for growing fatter every day.
But I refused to do anything about it.
Until one day, when I stepped on the scale, I saw a number that scared me.
78.2 kg.
172.4 lb.
It was the most I've ever weighed.
Don't remember how, but I discovered an app that counts the number of steps you make every day.
And it could access the steps data on my phone for even before the app was installed.
I looked at those stats and was shocked.
Apparently, I should be doing at least 8,000 steps a day.
And when I attend events and generally go out of the home office, that's usually pretty close to what I do without even thinking about it.
But when I am home, I would do 300.
Maybe 800 steps.
Basically, I would get up to have lunch, pee, dinner, bed.
That totally did not look right to me.
So this February, I committed to walking at least 8,000 steps every single day.
Rain or shine.
No matter what.
Since February, I only missed the mark by a few hundred steps on a couple of occasions.
But it formed a habit.
I used to feel weird forcing myself out for a daily walk.
Now I feel weird if I haven't walked.
I'd not been under 70kg for over a decade.
My current weight fluctuates around 68.6 kg (151.2 lb) now.
No gym.
No diets.
No f@&#king buckwheat.
If I want to munch a chocolate cake, I don't say no to that.
Sometimes, I walk my 8,000 steps to a nearby McDonald's to get my Big Mac®.
My personal record is 37450 steps I walked in Baku, some of which I made walking along the Formula 1® track.
This experience taught me a lesson that goes way beyond losing weight.
Consistency eats silver bullets for breakfast.
With staying fit, everyone knows the simple secret: eat less and move more.
But most people, myself included, are always looking for a miracle solution that will allow you to stay fit while you move less and eat more.
Now, I don't even think if a particular walk will result in me losing weight.
I just walk.
I know that if I keep walking every day, I will stay fit.
Same thing with business.
Instead of expecting to discover a silver bullet that will miraculously bring about an astounding result (buckwheat-style), I focus on consistently doing things that I know will work over time.
And guess what?
They do.
Does this resonate with you?
Reply and let me know.
What is your "buckwheat" solution that no longer works?
What do you do consistently that has worked miracles for you and your business?
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