The above photo is a list of goals and aspiration I had for the 2014 year.

It is pinned up at both my desk at the radio station and on my mirror in my bedroom at home. It’s a variety of personal, professional, and both simple and far reaching goals.

One goal was to come up with a program that would help some people in any capacity make a lifestyle change to get healthy in their lives.  Obesity in my eyes is the biggest medical issue in America because if we could solve that there is a lot more that could get solved. (Diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc.)

Attacking obesity is a lot like attacking a lot of different problems at the core.  

With the support of my radio station and the help of Slim Down Columbus I came up with the 97 Day Get Fit Challenge.

It provided six contestants the opportunity to receive free personal training, gym memberships, healthy food, community support, and more for FREE for 97 days.

The results are in and over 300 pounds were lost!  

The winner lost 47 pounds in 97 days (plus 20 more since January) and second place lost over 35 (while losing 25 more since January!)

Think about that for a moment…67 pounds and 60 pounds since January…and they look and feel completely different.  With starting weights under 250 pounds.

Last night at the finale I was in a room full of grateful people who poured out words of encouragement and thanks for what the 97 Day Challenge meant to themselves and their families.  

It made it all worth it.

And when I say that I mean…when you want to achieve a goal…when you want to take a passion project and make it a reality…to lay the groundwork to build something…it is friggin’ HARD!

We encountered trials and tribulations, problems that I did not initially foresee or think of, and backend work that no one would care to hear about.

But it was all worth it…

Creating something is not easy…creating something that matters even to six individuals, their network of family and friends, the trainers who helped them, and a few other people who were a part of the program or who enjoyed hearing the updates via the radio station is even harder!

It takes dedication, efficiency, passion, patience, gut checks, and a lot of other intangibles.

But it was all worth it…

Did we create a movement yet? No.  Those six contestants are changed though…and I’m confident they won’t rest on their success so far and keep getting to where they want to be at in life from a health standpoint and lifestyle.

They will be a mentor to another person.  And if those people then mentor someone else.  And then that group mentors an additional person….well that’s when you create a movement!

It’s possible to do it folks.  I believe in you and know you have your own 97 Day Challenge inside ready to come out.  

Let’s make it a reality and eventually a movement to what you care about.

If you have an idea put it in the comments below and we can start to draft it out or you can email me at mike@marketingfunwithmike.com and we can put together a plan to make it a reality sooner than you ever thought!

Here’s to those six contestants, my love and thanks goes out to them and to all those who helped make this such a success.  

But it’s only the beginning…

Carpe Diem!

Mike

PS: If you want to get fired up about life listen in on my podcast with Jim Kukral on the podcast page…holy cow he brings the inspiration!