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When we get into fitness we are like him  in a very limited sense. We have an idea of what we'll look like twenty pounds less or ten years younger. Then go about trying to make that happen. But how hard do we try? In our estimation, very hard. But is it anywhere close to the effort of Edison? How many of us can say that we've found ten thousand ways (or even just thirty) of not staying at our fitness lifestyles?

The vast majority of us start in January as part of a new year's resolution only to quit by tax time. This is common knowledge to health club owners and may become similar in the business world even with a brand new facility right downstairs. There'll still be that drop off of effort for reasons we don't come close to really comprehending. That has got to stop.

But will we, as children of the fast everything generation, be able to make it stop? Will be able to keep ourselves from quitting? Most of us still believe that we can do anything if only we will. Yet this quitting compulsion (anti- perseverance) is scary. Possibly a little more from Edison will make a difference.

1.)Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.

One Percent Inspiration

Let's say that our electric light bulb is Rocky. That's a fitness lifestyle that works, like his. It's never missing at getting up early, running through Philadelpjia, downing nutrients, doing the right things always focused on going the distance with the world champ. That's a real winner. That's someone we'd like to be.

When seeing the movie, we say yes to the character. We would love to be in training just like him, always staying at it just for the love of the challenge. Then we'd be doing what we know we should--something which is no different than what we want. So that's what we do--exactly what we want, right? No way.

After watching the movie Sunday night, next morning we just turn off the alarm at seven. Then we head for Starbucks, down our cappuccino with or without pastry, make the commute, and stumble into work by nine. In other words, we're right back to the real world in less than twelve hours, leaving Rocky and the best part of ourselves in the never never land of the movies. But we can't deny that he brought out the self-determination in us in us, if only for a little while.

Nevertheless if we're honest, we've got to admit that it'd be nice to be less the way we are. But how do we change? How do we get into being a super early riser? How do we really get through the streets of our Philadelphia? Where do we come up with an idea like pounding a side of beef? How do we know what supplements (our raw eggs) to take? What's a good diet for a person in training? Where do we get the courage to go against our Apollo Creed (that challenge which could eventually get us promoted)?

Questions like these all need answers before we can really follow in Rocky's footsteps. In the movie, he just knew what to do. Consequently he kept on doing it. Almost all of us are not at this point. That's why this movie does not work beyond Monday morning, after having seen it on Sunday night. We're just not yet ready to emulate Rocky; but that doesn't mean we wouldn't want to, if only we could. We need intermediaries.

To become like Rocky we first need our heroes and heroines. In the last chapter, we talked about icons. Most of us have them. Jillian Michaels is probably now the most popular. Before her it was Jane Fonda and Jack Lalanne. Of course, there are others as well, but they're not as well known. The point is that some of us have access to these ideal people either through their videos or websites. If only we would consult them often--like everyday!

The problem is that we never do so enough. We may subscribe to their websites. But too often we delete their newsletters without even reading them. Or, we put them unopened into a folder, which we never glance through They should be right on top of our favorites, but they seldom are. If they were, they really might have the impact they should. They just might become part of us.

To make that happen, we have got to get them into our heads. We have to let them replace our supposed realistic selves with all of that alleged "wisdom" such as it's our bodies telling us that we just need to take a little break, or that we better take it easy at our age, and similar inanities, To keep from this, our icons have got to be studied on a daily basis. They should be looked at for ten minutes before leaving the house on the morning and before going to bed. Then their influence might really have a chance of sinking in.

Cynical people call this hero worship; That's supposed to be a put down. It either means we can't be our own person or we don't have the will power to do things on our own. Well, maybe that's true. So what? Get real. Accept it. If it helps, we can always be our real selves after we've been being our version of Rocky for six months or so.

That really might be better than what everyone else is doing. Just look at main street USA and conclude that everyone is making it to the gym everyday, eating no more than two thousand calories and doing well with all of our supplements. Is a university study really necessary to determine if this is the case?

We need our icons

We all need help getting into our own Rockys. We help in the form of a constant reminder of what we should be doing when the temptation to do the tired out tried and supposedly true seems all-compelling. Celebrities like Jack, Jane and Jillian are best to help with this. Everybody knows them and is impressed by their before and after stories and pictures. That's why they have the power to excite the imagination, motivating us to action when all else seems to fail. That's why they are important.

The only difficulty is that we don't think about these people enough, if at all, when times get tough. Their image ought to spontaneously arise in our imagination as if they were standing right there beside us. All too often that doesn't happen. Instead, we find ourselves being realistic, grown-up, mature, filled with alleged common sense. That's when we think about how busy we are (not enough time), how tired we are (not enough energy), how discouraged we are (no results fast enough.) That's when we need our icons the most. But have we done our homework to make them part of us?

Ninety-nine percent perspiration