It has been a long time since I have sat in front of the keyboard to put my thoughts down in writing. When you stop writing it is so easy not to start again. With that being said, it is time to start anew.

Here is my audacious goal. For 100 days I am going to spend time setting and achieving goals. What goals? I am glad you asked.

1. Rigorously follow my exercise program. This one won’t be hard. I have been in the gym 5-6 times per week for the last year. However, it is time to refine the program and get focused results.

2. Set an eating plan and stick to it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t care for this step. I love food. I love cooking food. I love eating food. I love… you get the idea. I already eat foods that are good for me…mostly. For the next 100 days I am committing to tracking my food/calories/macros to understand better what is working and what is not.

3. I don’t drink enough water daily. This has to change. My daily goal is 100 oz.

4. I hate reading paper books. This is primarily because I am an auditory guy. I love to listen. This is why 75 Hard and me haven’t gotten along. Well, for other reasons too, but I digress. My goal here for the next 100 days is 1 chapter per day, either reading or audio. I can do that. I will post here what book I am reading and the chapter I finish. I am currently reading Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss. I just finished chapter 4.

5. I will take a daily photo to watch the change happening. I may not post all of them right away, but as the pounds come down I will be more open to sharing.

6. I will actively encourage others. I am taking on the next 100 days to better myself. One way this is accomplished is by not making it all about me. I want to do better and lift others up at the same time.

7. My final step is…writing it all down as I go.

I am ready. Day 1 is in the books. On to day 2.

How far I have come. This weekend my mom and I were talking about the hard days when I was growing up. There were times when we barely had food and way too much month left at the end of the money. God saw us through. He still does. I am thankful.

I was in the library not long ago looking around and I was struck with how many fiction books there were. Thousands. Ten of thousands. All different. All waiting to be read. It made me do some thinking. The resulting thought is this: people love stories. Absolutely love them. But why?

There is a chance to get to go on an adventure, escape your own reality, follow characters who do things you wish you could do. And so much more. It intrigues us. It drives us. It haunts us. This thing called story.

I seldom remember a bunch of unrelated facts. Things aren’t interesting that way. Put it all together in the framework of a story though, then you have my attention. I will remember things this way. Story speaks to us. Calls us. Reminds us. Story is vital.

For instance: “John, how was work today?” “It was fine. Did some spreadsheets. Took some calls. Met a new coworker. Came home.” You get the gist of what John did for the day, but it doesn’t make you jump up and down to ask them the same question tomorrow.

Or this: “John, how was your day?” “It was a good day. Took me forever to get through some spreadsheets I was doing because Mark kept popping his head in my office wanting help on a project he is working on. I am a little swamped right now, but Mark is having some trouble at home and I was glad to help him. We also had a new lady start today. I think we really hit it off. She asked me for my number. We will see where it goes…” The story draws it out. Makes it intersting.

I went to see author Donald Miller speak about story once when he came through Oklahoma City. He was touring for his book called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (great read). The book is about living a good story with your life. It is a theme that stuck with me. How do you do this?

The first question we have to ask is this: What is a story? Donald Miller put it this way. A story is a tale about a character who wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it. This is the basics of what a story is. If you think about all of the stories you love, it fits.

Whether it is Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, Pretty Woman, Secondhand Lions, or an other variety of stories, every story is focused on a character or set of characters who want something and have to overcome conflict to get it. The character stands at the end of the story different from the journey. They have achieved their goal. Won the girl. Saved the world. Whatever their goal was, it is done. The strange thing too, we change with the good stories.

We get very attached to the characters in the stories don’t we? You follow Mr. Anderson as he makes his discoveries about the Matrix. You see him struggle with the truth. You see him step into the identity of Neo as he begins to realize who he is. You see him overcome the conflict in the story (the agents) to help him towards his ultimate goal of ending the Matrix.

We feel what they feel don’t we? We get to experience all of it as they do. You are happy with them, sad when they hurt, we triumph as they do. Story takes us with them as they experience it all.

The question I have is this: What story are you telling? What is it that you want? What conflict do you have to overcome to achieve that goal? Can you answer those questions?

One thing that amazes me is that we will not stand for a boring story. Many people loved the movie “In the Bedroom”. If you are one of them, I apologize in advance for the next line. I hated it. It was boring. I left the theater about 25 minutes into it. Again, the critics loved it. You may have too, but it wasn’t the kind of story that kept my attention.

That being said, there have been years of my life that I settled for a boring story. I won’t sit for two hours and watch something that bores me, but I let the world pass me by, stuck in a rut. Zig Ziglar says the only difference between a rut and a grave is that the ends are kicked out in the rut.

I don’t want to live like that. Neither do you. The answer is to live a good story with our lives.

My parents. I am so very thankful for them. I love them so much.