When I hit Day 50 of the 365 Commitment, I was inspired by a person named Roy Spence. His website is https://www.royspence.com. He is a professional speaker now, he spent his life running a marketing firm. He has been the marketing genius behind many famous people. I saw him speak at a corporate retreat. I believe he talked about leading a principled life. Nothing he said in his talk really impacted me, but when I got to the hotel room, I looked up a few of his books. In one I read the story of when him a and a group of friends decided to take on a new challenge, which I believe was to start their new marketing firm. Quitting their day jobs and taking the big risk.
The story, as I remember it, was that he and his group of friends were in a bar, and when they finally came to this decision a sign above the door read, “Ride at Dawn.” I am guessing this is a phrase taken from a Louis L’mour book about a gunslinger. I can imagine the moment when the gunslinger taking his posse to go after the bad guys, looking at them in his duster and holding his two six shooters saying, “tomorrow we Ride at Dawn.”
Apparently this became Mr. Spence’s favorite phrase and represents a general attitude and approach to life that became his calling card. I was already contemplating my ambition to start something significant to improve my health. I had come up with the idea of building a habit of running and was considering a few other things. I ultimately decided on the following formula – rise everyday at 5am (no exceptions), run for at least 2 miles, and do 1 more pushup, situp and squat then I did the previous day. I decided that if I did that everyday for 365 days in a row that I would have a tremendous impact on my personal health. It was the Ride at Dawn phrase that inspired me. I looked at myself in the mirror, set my alarm clock for 5am and looked in the mirror and said to myself, “self, tomorrow morning I Ride at Dawn.”
Well, every morning for 319 days I have. This was a powerful concept that still remains with me. When I go to bed every night, I think this through. As I close my 365 notebook for the day, I whisper to myself – Ride at Dawn.
Guy Reams (369)
365 Member
