WED – Shoot for the Moon, Physics Says So

(Wednesday’s workout below.)

I recently finished up Gary Keller’s The One Thing, and one of my favorite takeaways is his illustration of the Domino Effect. We all understand the general concept of dominoes. You knock one down and it has the immediate effect of knocking down another. String enough together, and you’ve knocked down something substantial. There is obvious correlation to goal setting  here, however, we have a bit of a narrow view on the actual power of The Domino Effect.

We think of the traditional concept of dominoes, a set we bought as a kid where all the sizes of the dominoes are the same. We line them up and watch them knock each other over in linear fashion.

However, dominoes are bigger and stronger than that. In 1983, Lorne Whitehard published in the American Journal of Physics that dominoes could in fact knock over a next piece that was 50% bigger than itself. If the pieces progressed at this size increase, by the 23rd piece we’d have a domino the size of the Eiffel Tower. By the 31st piece, a size just bigger than Mount Everest, and by the time we stacked 57 dominoes together the final piece would cover the distance between the Earth and the moon.

By showing this, he proved that dominoes are in fact a geometric progression, not a linear one. Each achievement larger than the one before it, but not necessarily through more effort, just consistency.

Our successes follow the same concept, do they not? We achieve that first goal of losing five pounds or performing our first strict pull-up. Maybe it’s getting out of bed for the first time without pain or noticing more energy at work. Whatever that first domino, once it falls, if we’re self aware enough to realize it’s happened, we take off from there.

I your aspirations are large, there are two takeaways. One, they are absolutely possible. Two, all you need to do is figure out that first domino. For each person, it’s different. For some, it’s learning the consistency of a healthy breakfast. For others, it’s more complex. For each of us, the essence is boiled down into one strong daily habit that we repeat over and over again. We find our main catalyst for success and we NEVER abandon it. One domino will quickly fall, and once that happens, if we stick with it, we’re at the moon.

The bottom line. Shoot for the moon. Physics says it’s possible.

-Dave

Wednesday, 12.20.17

First, for Structure.
8 Kneeling LM Chest Press
6 Ab Roll-Outs
30m Sandbag Carry to 5 Sandbag Squats
(Complete 3 Rounds in 12 Minutes)
—
Then, for Conditioning.
Receiving barbell from-the-floor (FTF)
5 Front Rack Barbell Forward Lunge
5/s 1-Arm KB Jerk
5 Front Squats
5 Chin-Ups
100m Run
(x15 Min)