Over the last couple of months, on the exercise program and diet that I’ve been following, I’ve lost some weight and a few inches. In the first few weeks, of course, there wasn’t much difference but now that I’ve been at it for 8 weeks some folks have taken notice.

“You look great.”

“Wow, you’ve lost weight.”

Compliments like that are great and they certainly suit my ego (thank you very much), but what’s been more interesting is the follow-up question.

“What’s your secret?”

Which is interesting because I don’t have any secrets.

Quite the opposite, in fact, since I’ve been pretty vocal about what I’m doing.

These exercises: https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Training-WOD-Bib…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

This diet: https://tim.blog/…/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-f…/comment-page-10/

There’s nothing secret about it, the results come from the routine. I firmly believe that routines are fundamental to success. I don’t know of any highly successful people who don’t have some sort of routine.

So when I’d gotten too big for my britches (literally) I incorporated this diet and this exercise program into my routine and, predictably, it worked. I could substitute another diet and exercise program and, so long as they’re reasonable and not some wacky pseudo-scientific nonsense, the results would be the same.

I know because I've done it, and those of you who survived my shirtless pictures from P90X several years ago know this to be true.

“Yeah, but how do you do it?”

That’s simple, I just do it (no Nike reference intended). At 8:00 in the morning I walk downstairs where I have a small, simple gym set up. I open up the book, read the exercise plan, and do it. And then the rest of the day I follow that diet.

No secret.

No magic.

No shortcut.

From there it just comes down to commitment and follow-through. And I believe this is the case for anything we want to accomplish in our lives.

Want to be healthy? Build a routine around diet and exercise.

Want more friends? Build a routine around social events.

Want to read more books? Build a routine around time planned for reading.

Want to do X better? Build a routine around practicing X.

It's all about the routine.

When it’s all said and done, it is our routines that define us. It is our routines that make us who we are. And it’s our routines that will determine where we are five years from now.