Effortless change

Right around Labor Day I began attending classes at my local gym. We have some really good ones. "Maximum Sculpt" means weight lifting to music. "Nia" is a new form of dance-type exercise. Just recently I began noticing the effects. First I found myself thinking, "Class was easier than usual today." "And today too." "Oh...maybe it's not the class. Maybe it's me." And outside the gym, the effects were even more amazing. Walking up a steep hill (say, Spring from 3rd to 4th Avenues in Seattle) used to leave me breathless with aching ankles. So I gritted my teeth and...it wasn't so bad. Carrying 2 big boxes of kitty litter from the Safeway across the way...tough but do-able. That's what's nice about exercise. You just keep doing it and you see results as if by magic. I'm not sure career change or business growth works the same way. Sure action yields results -- if it's purposeful. When you exercise, purpose translates to form. With careers, too many of us get caught up in "do something...anything!" Much harder to distinguish purposeful action that delivers from what the late Lynn Grabhorn called "heigh-ho silvering."