Is your life out of balance?

Do you feel stuck? Do you feel like your situation is hopeless?

Let me share a story with you that I first heard several years ago.

This guy's walking down the street and he falls in a hole.

The walls are so steep, that he can't get out.

A doctor passes by and the man shouts out, can you help me get out of this hole?

The doctor writes out a prescription, throws it down the hole, and keeps on walking.

A priest comes along and the man shouts out, Father, can you help me get out of this hole?

The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down the hole and moves on.

Then a friend walks by.

The man shouts out - Can you help me get out of this hole?

The friend jumps in the hole too.

The man says, are you stupid or something? Now we're both stuck down here.

The friend says - Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.

I'm that friend.

I've been down the hole before and fortunately, I know the way out.

The concept of human potential is a funny thing.

Potential is that which you are capable of being or becoming.

Most of us (probably all of us), are capable of achieving

so much more than we have ever thought is possible.

That's because, no matter how great you are, no matter how fantastic

you already are there is always the possibility of becoming something even greater.

I'm Stanley Bronstein.

During my first 50 years, I became an attorney, a CPA, a real estate broker

and an author. Some might say that's quite a list of accomplishments.

Yet, I was in poor physical health. I was walking around at 320 pounds

(and I'm only 5' 7" tall).

I ate too much. I drank too much. I exercised too little.

Despite all my successes, I was slowly killing myself.

As I like to call it, I was committing "Slowicide".

I have no doubt that had I continued along the path I was taking,

I would be gone by now.

I was wasting my potential.

I was capable of becoming so much more, yet I had failed to do so.

Why?

I believe it was because I was unwilling to make permanent, lasting changes in my life.

I had lost weight many times before, yet I never kept it off long-term.

The weight would always come back with a vengeance.

It was only when I decided that I had had enough that things

began to permanently change for the better.

It was only when I became willing to do what it takes,

FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE,

that things began to permanently change for the better.

All of this sounds scary, doesn't it?

Making permanent, lasting changes requires you to give up

many things in your life. No doubt about it.

Here's the funny part ...

When you give up the things you thought were important to you

(but really weren't),

so many other, FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL things will come into your life.

I had always wanted, more than anything,

to get in shape and to take off my excess weight and

to reach  my goal weight of getting below 150 pounds.

But I was never permanently successful, until I began making

permanent, lasting changes in my eating habits and in my exercise habits.

That's because I wasn't willing to make the short-term sacrifices

necessary to achieve my long-term goals.