Over the past few years, I've learned the importance of choosing to exercise every day, what I call my “daily sweat”.

For years, I lived with daily excuses why I didn't have time to sweat. And the busier I got the more justified I felt in my excuses.

However, the truth was I was over weight and over stressed. It's funny how it seems we set up life sometimes to disserve us more than to serve us, isn't it?

Well, about two years ago, I stepped on a scale and read a number that shocked me back into self honesty. It's often said that awareness is 90% of any transformation. The self awareness that arrived with a doctor telling me that I was clinically obese pushed me to my justification and rationalization limits.

I was no longer able or willing to lie to myself. It was as simple as that. And my health, my very life, was truly what was at stake.

I simply had to make a change, but I didn't have the necessary discipline to initially make the change. So, I started small. I figured if I was to be successful I had to make it a habit that I enjoyed, a habit I felt excited to do rather than just adding another “have to” to my ever growing to-do list. I also knew that if I were to be successful, it made sense to set up a system that I could easily sustain, even on days when it would have been way too easy to let my justifications once again disserve me.

My first question was important. What habit am I willing to give up in order to add this new habit of exercise? This is always an important question to ask when starting something new. It helps me get clear at the beginning that there is a real cost to making a change. A cost that gets paid one way or the other.

For me, the choice was simple. I gave up watching television. I made a rule for myself I intended to keep. I wasn't willing to watch any television without sweating while I watched. If I was going to watch my favorite show or get caught up with Sports Center, I had to be sweating. Period. And there could be no exceptions for the first 40 days.

Two things occurred. I developed the habit of sweating every day, while at the same time I realized how unimportant watching television really was to me. Granted I still enjoy a few good shows like Heroes and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But now instead of watching them via cable or satellite, I download via iTunes and auto sync with my iPod. It's seamless and commercial free, but I'll share more gadget fun in another email, okay?

The key for me is that sweat works. Its health benefits are too numerous and really too obvious to get too detailed about in this Letter. Let me simply share that my daily sweat is a source of many of my most important ideas and decisions. And there are few other daily practices that I engage that help me let go of things that are stressful or worrisome. There's nothing a good sweat doesn't help me release or get clearer about.

Today, I sometimes find it most serving to sweat twice daily. Sweat mixed with my daily practice of silent meditation is a winning strategy for me to live with much more joy and much less stress.

In whatever way works for you, I'd recommend setting up your life to get daily sweat as well.

In Sweat Filled Joy & Inspiration,

sk