The 2018 Billion Dollar Fitness Challenge

January 26, 2018

I have a never-ending fascination with fitness.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Probably everyone would say they want to be fit, yet the National Institute of Diabetes says that “more than 2 in 3 adults were considered to be overweight or have obesity“in 2014.

And probably everyone would say they want to be healthy, yet the line for Chik-fil-A is always around the corner (day or night).

Why is that?

What is this disconnect between wanting to be lean and mean while being the exact opposite? Where does all it go wrong?

As with all things, it starts with belief.

When we see a fit-looking person, we admire it–and then we dismiss it as impossible.

“I’d love to look like that, but who has time to work out 6 hours a day or eat tofu hamburgers or sleep in kale pajamas.”

If our busy schedules make it impossible to pursue a life-consuming fitness regimen, then what’s the point in even starting such a regimen? We’ll never have a chef or a personal trainer or the budget to buy all those fancy foods, so why bother trying?

Plus, Filet-o-Fish sandwiches taste so, so good.

In short, if we believe it can’t be done, it won’t get done. Fitness turns into something for somebody else.

But what if fitness wasn’t really that inaccessible? What if it was actually something that anyone could do? Would that change anyone’s life?

I wonder.

This year I’m betting everyone on the internet that I can walk 3.47 million steps by the end of the year (December 31st, 2018).

By the way, did you know that 3.47 million steps is about 1,700 miles? Did you know that 1,700 miles is almost exactly the distance from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles?

That sounds impressive! And absolutely not helpful because no one would ever do that, right?

Not so fast, my friend.

Getting 3.47 million steps is just 10,000 steps a day. If you break it down, in a 30 minute walk, you can get about 4,000 steps. If you went on a 30 minute walk during lunch (just making phone calls or listening to music or podcasts) and did the same after dinner, you’re probably at 10,000 steps because of all the steps you take in your everyday life.

Or you could take three 20-minute walks.

The point is: it’s not that hard to get the steps. It’s not a big life-changing event.

Furthermore, in my bet with the internet, I will win $1 from everyone if I also do 10,000 pushups and 10,000 squats. That’s a lot!

But it’s also only 30 a day. Ten in the morning, twenty at night. It just takes a few minutes and they can be done anytime.

As it turns out, the hardest part of getting fit is keeping track. We humans are notoriously terrible at writing things down or keeping a consistent log. But, of course, all we need is a spreadsheet or an app and the recording is easy, too.

All told, doing an amazing fitness feat is actually not that hard at all. Anyone can do it.

It’s really a sucker bet.

And, $1 at a time, it’s going to be the easiest billion dollars I’ve ever made.

My book is called The Inevitability of Becoming Rich, and you can find that here.