American author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn often said “Life is the struggle to keep death at a respectable distance. Death wants to move in prematurely. Life’s job is to keep pushing back!”. One of the major activities we can engage in to keep death at a respectable distance and give ourselves a fighting chance of staying alive for a longer time is movement/engaging in physical activities. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical activity ¹ as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Physical activity refers to all movement including during leisure time, for transport to get to and from places, or as part of a person’s work. The WHO recommends engaging in at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week.

As the saying goes, you don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great. Most of us want to be ready before we start, but the reality of life is that everything will not always align or go as planned, but the key is to keep moving. The momentum that you gain as a result of taking action will eventually build your self-confidence and belief in your capabilities. The hardest part of any journey is taking the first step, committing to a goal, and executing it relentlessly. There are going to be ups and downs, detours, diversions, and stop signs, and sometimes, giving up might be considered but with persistence and perseverance, most goals are achievable.

In his poem, The Road Not Taken, American poet. Robert Frost wrote “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” Our natural human tendency is homeostasis, our inclination to look for the path of least resistance, the easy route, the shortcuts, and go through the road often travelled. As Frost noted in his poem, taking the road less travelled made all the difference. The road less travelled is the third door, it is not obvious to most of us as it takes the relentless pursuit of a course bigger than us, it requires seeing the big picture and staying committed to our priorities and goals. To achieve anything worthwhile in life, courage is an essential component of getting great things done. If you do what everybody is doing, you will ultimately get the same result they are getting.

One of the habits of highly successful people is the art of visualizing what they aim to achieve in a day, season of life, and in their lifetime. They visualize their goals by using different strategies such as a vision board, mental visualization, and journaling. Celebrities such as Jim Carrey, Drake, J.K. Rowlings, Will Smith, Micheal Phelps, Tiger Woods, and Oprah Winfrey have all attributed visualization as a factor in their success. As the saying goes “Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.” Our subconscious mind doesn’t distinguish between fact, fiction, and reality. Research shows that 95% of our day is spent in the subconscious mind, we are on autopilot most of the time, thinking the same thoughts, ruminating on the same things, and making the same decisions.

Tall Poppy Syndrome refers to the idea that all flowers should be the same size and that if one grows too tall, it needs to be cut down. ¹ The Tall Poppy Syndrome ² occurs when people are attacked, resented, disliked, criticized, or cut down because of their achievements and/or success. The tall poppy syndrome is a phenomenon that every successful person would eventually have to deal with as acquaintances, family, and friends begin to say things like you have changed,

Run for your life is a metaphor for taking initiative, betting on yourself, and trusting the process. We stay in toxic relationships, fail to set healthy boundaries, people please, and do not start or follow through with our wildest dreams because of the fear of what other people will say and the fear of failure. As American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver demanded, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This is not a drill or a dress rehearsal; there are no do-overs. This is it, and you’ve got to run toward your purpose and mission in life. Run away from naysayers to find your yay-sayers, run towards a life filled with joy, tranquility, and a sense of wonder. As American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson observed “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to change you is the greatest accomplishment.”  People pleasing, a lack of healthy boundaries and a fear of what other people would say about your life choices can get someone killed.