My back has been wrecked.
I suffered a very painful back injury a few weeks ago and I have been struggling with it.
I did a big workout in the gym as part of my 75 Hard challenge, came home and attacked my weekend honey-do list like a champ…
And then my back completely gave out. I couldn’t walk, sleep or even drive without terrible pain.
So I went to see the pros who recommended I quit.
My back needed a full 14 days of rest, at which point I could restart the challenge from day one.
NO WAY. I am not a quitter.
That’s something that has followed me through life.
I. Don’t. Quit.
We often face difficult challenges in life. But wouldn’t you agree that makes the success sweeter when we power through?
If everything was super easy, there would be no fulfillment.
I was struggling through.
But then, out of the blue a fellow dealmaker who had watched one of my weekly accountability videos reached out with help.
Turns out, Jeremy is a sports and fitness nut, a personal coach and is also doing 75 Hard along with me.
He did something truly amazing for me… He recorded a 45-minute back workout on camera with his professional coach guiding the session.
I did the workout four times in six days and it worked absolute wonders for me.
My back is 99% back to full strength. And it hasn’t been like that since 1995.
Let me tell you why…
In 1995 I suffered a near-fatal car accident.
I was up super early one morning driving to a meeting. I had only a few hours of sleep before starting off on the 200-mile trek.
I fell asleep at the wheel around 6 a.m. and the next thing I knew I was hurtling through the air at 80 MPH.
It was a classic jump like the Dukes of Hazzard would do with their car. (Daisy Duke would have been proud.)
I had veered off the freeway, crashed through a wood barrier, careened up an embankment, and then went airborne for what felt like an eternity.
As I landed, I felt my back pop. Seconds later I hit a stone wall within a farmer’s field.
The farmer was in his kitchen having his morning coffee, saw the whole thing, and (as he later told me) thought “Well, that guy’s dead.”
He set out walking over to the wreck, in no particular rush to see what he imagined would be my badly mangled body.
But as he got closer, he saw me struggling to open the driver’s door and broke into a sprint.
He opened the door, pulled me out and I instantly collapsed to the ground, my back in an absolute world of pain.
I came to in the hospital where I learned I’d snapped one of the extremities of my spinal column, those small pieces of bone that sprout out from the sides.
It could have been far worse.
Within a few weeks I was up and walking. My back hurts occasionally but it hadn’t prevented me from living a full life.
Until two weeks ago when this incident came back to haunt me.
When I started 75 Hard, I knew my back – not my mind – would be my weak link
But thanks to Jeremy and his coaching, I’ve just powered through my best week of 75 Hard thus far.
I’m now two-thirds of the way through the challenge and can see the finish line. Not to mention, I’m also at the same weight I was in 1995, below 180 pounds.
Ironic, isn’t it?
It’s like I have reset the past 25-years of my life.
So, what’s the lesson here?
We all need help from time to time.
Especially when doing deals.
We power through and find most of the process straight forward, then we hit a big challenge.
It could be:
If any of this gets you stuck, get help.
Just like I did with my back.
People will help you. You can partner with them. Even share ownership in the business with them.
It’s better to build an all-star team and own 50%, 60% even 90% of a business than to struggle alone and own 100% of nothing.
ASK for help if you need it. None of us are perfect.
There’s that saying: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That’s absolutely true for me and can be for you too.
Don’t let anything stand in your way of achieving your goal. The goal of acquiring, owning and benefiting from a small business.
Get it done. Don’t quit. Get help if you need it.
Until next time, bye for now.
