The last few years, I’ve been struggling with a chronic health problem. On December 20th, 2023, I underwent surgery. Everything went well and I had a great recovery for the first few weeks. I threw away my inhalers. I was hopeful the issue was in the past. But by mid-January, all of my symptoms came back. While this was devastating, it lit a fire under my ass like I’ve never quite seen before. 2024 was a year full of the pursuit of regaining my health. I experienced phenomenal personal growth. Here’s what happened.

One of the keys to my success with building new habits is leaping into action with prepping or setting up for the habit—not necessarily focusing on the habit itself. For example, to get into motion doing my daily pilates, I need to first head upstairs to my closet and put on my workout clothes. Then I need to head downstairs and open our family room closet where my weights are stored and put them out in the family room. Next, I turn on the TV and open my phone to the Align pilates app. I have to select which video I’m doing that day, which is usually pretty easy because there’s a calendar. Then I need to stream it to my TV. All of this prep work might sound small, but it’s as important as the workout. It’s tedious. It seems to not matter, but it is the habit.