365 Days of Living the Dale Carnegie Principles
Day 51. Sunday, May 15, 2011
Do the best you can
I woke up distressed. I only lasted 10 minutes on the treadmill at the gym last night. Will I be able to redeem myself today?
The trouble is—I am very disciplined and focused. I’ve been pretty faithful following my regimen at the gym that my trainer has customized for just for me. The good thing is—I’ve been improving. The bad thing is—I’ve been improving. Improvement ironically enough—has stressed me out to the point that I’ve “fallen off the gym wagon.” I have been too stressed to go to the gym.
The reason? The program has gotten easier.
When I started this routine I was on a fabulous program where I walked on the treadmill—at a very steep incline. It was a vigorous workout without having to run. But last night—I found walking just didn’t cut it. In fact, I had to run really fast to reach the required heart rate. Grumble. The cost of progress is a new challenge. I don’t like change. I hate change.
This afternoon I looked at the clock with dread as I thought about going to the gym. I remembered Dale Carnegie’s principle from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living and suddenly felt more at ease: Do the best you can.
Remember, just as stress can be self-imposed—you also have the power to relieve stress. Remind yourself of what’s important. Remind yourself that if you do the best you can—that really is all you can ask or expect of yourself. Besides this—the cost of worrying is your happiness. That is much too expensive a price to pay.
Housekeeping / Notes
If you missed the announcement—take a moment to check out the new page: Attn. Non-readers! It’s a fun section that shows a pictorial view of all the blog posts to date.
The Smiling Daffodil 