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I’d like to start with a post about a key concept that I’ve tried to apply in everything I do. Sometimes

I’ve even succeeded. Each time, the rewards have been significant.

The summary of the concept is: it doesn’t matter where you start, so long as you keep improving.

This appears obvious at first glance, but we all ignore it almost all the time. Life is full of distractions, and it’s very hard to keep your eye firmly set on an objective, and to keep your measuring rule at hand to make sure you get closer all the time.

There are many ways to apply this idea, but the key element is to measure. That, for me, has been the essential success criteria for this method.

One of the ways in which I applied it was when I started going to the gym. Back when I started working, about 4 years ago, I was a thin bundle of sticks (with some sort of beer gut attached). Not the most attractive, to be sure (and the lack of a girlfriend by my side at the time seems to agree with me there). I had tried going to the gym many times at university, but never with any regularity, and so I never succeeded in putting on any muscle.

So when I decided it was time for me to put some good meat on, I took two steps that were completely different from what I used to do at university:

• Go to the gym regularly (3-4 times a week)
• Measure my performance each time

That, along with a small but healthy dose of competitive spirit, made all the difference. Because I measured myself, I knew whether I was getting better or not, and simply wanting to get better meant that I pushed myself harder. I started off lifting light weights of no consequence, but by increasing steadily at each visit to the gym, I got to a pretty reasonable level surprisingly quickly.

Then, I just kept going, and started to lift weights that even some of my friends whom I thought were better built than me couldn’t lift.

After a few cycles of this, a year or so later, I’d achieved my goal: I didn’t look like a bundle of sticks anymore (although the beer gut still remains). I’d put on muscle and strength, looked better, and felt much better and much more confident.

You can apply this to any area of your life. Just start where you are, and set yourself a program to improve each day or each couple of days. Then come up with a way to measure that progress.

Then: do it.

Your internal self-esteem will be enough to drive you forward, and before you know it your goals will be achieved, you’ll be where you wanted to be. Then, set yourself new goals. Rinse, repeat, and you can go anywhere you want in life with this system.