It’s hard work, changing your life.

It will not happen overnight. And it’s likely to be a long road, on your way to the highest life.

The accomplishment I’m most proud of in this moment is rowing over 2,183 miles in a year on my rowing machine.

It’s an accomplishment that, just two years ago, in early 2021, I never would have even pictured happening.

But on December 28, 2022, I put in the final few thousand meters that put me over the milage mark.

It was just about 10,000 meters a day. Every day. For 365-ish days. (I think I started a couple of days before 2022, but I also finished before 2022 ended, so it all works out, right??)

And in the beginning, it felt overwhelming at times.

I was staring at the sheer number of miles, knowing that I was only putting 6.2 miles a day towards my final total.

Today, I want to talk about 5 types of overwhelm that I noticed at different times on this journey.

Most people know overwhelm as just a feeling. I did too. Until I started to sit with the feeling and dissect it.

That’s when you notice that there are different types of overwhelm and it’s more than just a feeling.

For me, I experienced overwhelm from the following areas:

• Choice: I didn’t have to make the change. It was a big goal and just the mere thought of the full distance at times was too much. I would need to dedicate a not insignificant amount of time to accomplish my goal and make this change in my life.

• Relationships: I did have moments where I didn’t share about my goal and the change. I didn’t want people to just think I was making this change so that people liked me more or thought I was amazing or great.

• Comfort: I was 100% comfortable with where I was at in my life. I was getting up at a reasonable time, I was content with my body and my diet. I was happy.

• Abundance: I had so many options to choose from in getting some type of movement into my body if I wanted to. And quite frankly, I think I spent a lot of time trying to pick which one would be best for me. Did I walk? Go to the gym? Build a yoga routine?

• Timing: I’m in my early 30s, and according to society, my peak physical condition is gone. That happened in my 20s when I was still growing. It’s too late now to try and get healthy. Plus all of the life patterns have set in.

At different times, each of these types of overwhelm threatened my success–threatened my focus on changing my life.

But I persevered.

Here’s how.

Conquering Overwhelm

The first thing to note is that I made a decision.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. But I made a decision that I was–no questions asked.

As I went through this past year, here’s how I turned every one of those types of overwhelm on its head.

Choice.

When it comes to choice, well, it’s difficult. Cause you never have to change. If you’re happy and content, you can stay that way.

But if you want to change–if you want to move towards your highest potential–change is inevitable.

So, you flip choice on its head.

That’s what I did.

It took me a little bit at first, but I made it so that getting up and rowing 10,000 meters was the first and only thing I had to do in the morning.

As long as I sat down and rowed, I accomplished what I wanted to that morning.

It was harder to not row because I really had to try and find things to do to distract myself. There were a couple of days I succeeded in distracting myself, but it was beyond exceedingly rare.

It was easy to row because I got up, threw on workout clothes, and took probably 10 steps to my rowing machine.

Couple this with something like watching videos on Netflix or Hulu or Youtube, and suddenly it’s a breeze.

You make the change so simple, so easy, so effortless, that it’s harder not to change than it is to change.

Relationships.

In this area, I assumed that most people would just laugh at my goal. 2,183 miles–over 3.5 million meters–it was a long, long distance.

So I didn’t really tell people.

I kept it to myself.

And I was okay with that.

Eventually, I started to share it with certain people, and they were all supportive.

By the end of the year, I was talking more openly about it, but not a lot.

I genuinely believe that most change takes place in the dark, in the depths of your alone time.

What you do in public creates an image, what you do in private creates change.

Comfort.

I told myself I was happy. And I genuinely was.

But sometimes, we need to change and grow not because who we are is bad, but because who we could be is so much greater.

I needed to row this distance because I knew I could be happier and healthier and more active than I already was.

In fact, on some level, I did this just to prove I could because I wanted to.

It was absolutely an impulse decision when I decided to–the best kind of impulse decision.

So, I pushed myself.

I just showed up every day and changed my comfort zone because I could.

Change your life because you can be even better than you are, not because you have to.

Abundance.

There are so many ways to exercise your body. Gyms. Yoga. Sports. Martial Arts. Rowing. Running/walking.

The list goes on and on.

And for years, there were so many choices that I truly didn’t know where to start. So, I didn’t start.

I just said I would figure it out.

That led to sporadic workout sessions–I would go for two or three days and then nothing for two weeks.

I needed to build the habit. I unintentionally figured out how to do that.

Finally, I just settled on one thing.

Rowing. And I did an absurd amount of it.

But by stripping away the options, I only had one thing to do: show up every day and row 10,000 meters.

That made the change easy.

Timing.

Creating a healthy lifestyle is something that 90% of the world sees as a young person's game.

Something that you have to build a pattern of in your 20s otherwise there’s no hope.

But changing your life is not limited to your age.

You can start whenever you want.

So, I just started.

And it took a while for the first changes to really be noticed, but now I feel it growing.

Some people live more in 10 years than others live in 40 years.

When you decide to make a change, it’s because it was the moment in your life when you were ready to make the change, inside and out.

It’s never too late to change your life.

Overwhelm comes in many forms, but it will come.

Change is inevitable if you want to pursue your highest life. And you will experience times when you want to settle.

You will have a moment when you look around and say: “I’m happy here–I’ve come so far, and I’m happy here.”

If you truly are, then that’s amazing!

But if you’re not, then take a moment, take a breath, and push forward.

And when you face the overwhelm of change, be relentless like water, ever flowing, never ceasing, always carving and changing everything it comes into contact with.

And, most importantly,

• When faced with the choice of change, make the steps towards your highest life so effortless that you have to choose to not change.

• When faced with the relationships of change, recall that this change is for you and no other person.

• When faced with the comfort of change, remember that you are not changing because your life is awful, but because it can be so much better.

• When faced with the abundance of change, focus in on one thing and only one thing to build the habit of change.

• When faced with the timing of change, know that your life truly changes when you are fully ready to do so and not a moment before.

Knowing that you are changing your life, that you are becoming in this world, that is something you can be proud of.

With love and a sense of urgency.

Jeff