If I had known then...

Three days ago I completed four and a half years of running at least a mile each day, and that got me wondering what the biggest lesson was that I've learned from my daily runs.

I have learned many things from my daily mile but one lesson shines out above all the others.

If I had started at the end of 2009 with a goal that I must achieve a goal of running at least a mile each and every day until July 2014, I am absolutely certain that I would never have started.

It would have felt that it was an impossible feat. Even if I'd known that others had done it, I'd still have thought that I couldn't do it.

I know that the saboteur part of my mind (and I guarantee that you have one of those too) would have come up with so many reasons why not, such as I'm bound to get the flu, I'd probably need a surgical procedure under sedation, I'd travel and forget to pack my running kit, I'd have to get up at a time that was so ridiculous it would be completely unreasonable.

All of those reasons not to complete it, bar one, did actually happen (I'll leave it to you to guess which), but complete it I did, and so far I'm still going strong!

To be honest some of the most challenging days weren't any of those listed above, they were actually normal days when I really just did not feel up to it that day, and had to force myself mentally to take that first step out of the door. 

The secret has been that I have dealt with each day as it comes and I've managed the challenge for that particular day.

So if I wouldn't have started this because I thought it would be impossible for me, it begs the question, what else in my life might I be able to achieve?

What goals might I achieve by ignoring the long term possibility of achieving them, and I just took the daily actions each and every day?

What might I achieve using the same approach as I've used to run each day for four and a half years?

By commiting to powerful daily habits, and focusing only on today's task, you can achieve far more than you ever thought possible.

This is, without a doubt, the biggest lesson I've learned.

Even if someone had told me this, I wouldn't have believed it to be true for me. Now I know it is!

The possibilities could be infinite and I bet yours could be too!