Just a little bit more....

Today I had a wonderful reminder of the power of "thinking big," courtesy of my 9 year old son, Alex.

Alex approached me about four months ago, asking if he could start jogging with me. I was thrilled that my exercise habits were trickling down to him, so of course I encouraged it.

We have a treadmill in the house, and while they can be very dangerous for children, I felt confident enough with my level of close supervision that he would be OK (plus there's that "key" thing that attaches to his chest that will cut the power if he falls).

He really enjoyed it, starting with "running" at a whopping 2.5 MPH for 12 minutes. Very soon, he worked up to 16 minutes, jogging/walking about a mile. He constantly likes to see if he can run "just a little bit faster" each day - makes my heart leap!

About two weeks ago, he developed a cold that has left behind a nasty cough. He avoided jogging because he felt too sluggish on the machine. I know this feeling, and it certainly is a dis-incentive to run.

We do have a doctor's appointment scheduled, but I wanted to see him at least walking for the 16 minutes. It's really more about keeping up the habit, not trying to "exercise."

Today, he got on again, and I encouraged him to try to slowly jog for just a minute. He did, and then backed it down to a walk. One more time, I told him, "Just see if you can run for another minute." And he did!

I'm thinking, "Now he's on a roll, let's see how far I can push this." So I kept telling him, "Alex, when you think you're going as fast as you can, in reality you can go just a little bit faster."

I could see the change taking place in his brain as if it were written on his forehead. He cranked up the speed to faster than he had ever gone, just for 30 seconds.

When he backed it down for his cool down walk, he said to me, "Mom, you were right. I could go faster than I thought I could."

What's the lesson?

Whereever we are, we can go just a little farther. If we're progressing as fast as we can, the fact is that we can go just a little bit faster.

Even in this economy.

Where are you right now? How can you go just a little bit more? Where can you put just a little bit more?

Those "little bit more's" will add up to some "bigger chunks" in short order.

To your continuing prosperity,
Anita