17 Minutes A Day
“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.”
Bill Russell
Imagine with me for a moment what you could accomplish if you took 17 minutes a day to focus on a single goal – if you used 17 minutes of action everyday to move you closer to a target.
Earlier this week, I was listening to The Jody Maberry Show. This is a podcast in which Jody Maberry shares his own insights and the insights of his guests to help people further develop themselves – as leaders, as creatives, as communicators, and as entrepreneurs. Several years ago, it was Jody who inspired me to begin my discipline of getting a minimum of 10,000 steps each and every day (today is day 1,693 days in a row for me).
In the episode I was listening to, Jody was interviewing Matt McWilliams about his upcoming book, Turning Your Passion Into Profits. For those who may not know Matt, he and I have been connected for a long time. I guest posted on his blog several years ago, and he has guest posted here. He wrote one of the quotes in the front of my first book, On Track – Life Lessons from the Track and Field. And if you look closely at the cover of my second book, Rooftop Reflections, you might notice that I am wearing a Matt McWilliams World Changer T-Shirt as I stand on the rooftop of a house in Guatemala. Matt left his pursuit of becoming a professional golfer to become an affiliate marketing guru. He has helped many, many gifted authors, leaders, and entrepreneurs as they have launched their products into the world.
Matt shared something in his interview with Jody that really stuck with me – and perhaps inspired me to get back to writing more regularly here at Jon Stolpe Stretched. Matt shared that he wrote his soon to be released book one day at a time giving himself 17 minutes a day to write. Matt wrote over 110,000 words during these 17 minutes slots that have now been reduced to just over 80,000 words in a ~300 page book.
Who says you can’t accomplish anything in 17 minutes?
I don’t know about you, but I have found myself using the excuse that I am way too busy to go after some of the goals that can be found on the perimeter of my day to day work and thoughts. One of the reasons for not writing more here over the past four plus years is that I am simply too busy.
In the past, writing on this blog has gave me a chance to STRETCH my brain, to explore my passions, to articulate ideas, and to encourage others. If I’m being honest (and I generally am always trying to be honest), I could probably benefit from using 17 minutes a day to write – just like this.
I don’t know what goals you’ve been putting off because you are too busy, too distracted, or just plain lazy. Maybe today is the day you stop making excuses. Maybe today is the day you begin to carve out 17 minutes a day to do something new, something different, something that changes you, something that changes the world.
I want to encourage you to take the next step along with me.