I'm not a speech writer and my profession of coaching requires me to say something in about 10-20 seconds and move on quickly. So I'm going to do this bullet point style and just share my thoughts on my first 100 days of quit.
- Servant Attitude - Why would complete strangers, guys I've never met give a 2nd thought to me any my addiction? But here I am - 100 days later with the same guys. I've been encouraged, I've been chastised, I've been supported but most importantly I was held accountable. What a selfless act on the part of my brothers in KTC and boys let's be honest - you don't see this very much in the world we live in today. This is the backbone of this place - guys who have that servant attitude - what can I do to help you? That is just incredible, there are some really good dudes on here. I've got to do a better job of this in my next 100 days - that's my goal.
- Captain Obvious - I've got to admit - early in the quit this place could look like a bad episode of Scared Straight. Veterans jumping butt on guys who missed roll - posting late roll - or guys who just flat out fell off the wagon and started using again. And I'm not going to lie, watching some of these quys have to squirm and humble themselves and explain why they were weak and why they failed - man it kind of pissed me off. But as we went along - you started noticing - those guys that missed, posted late, or fell off the wagon, well they just kind of disappeared. But then you had the guys who slogged along every day - they posted roll - they had bad days - they got frustrated - they wanted to quit the quit. But they kept showing up, day after day posting that roll. Then it hit me - how in Sam Hell can you even expect to quit if you aren't disciplined? I mean, the requirement at KTC isn't rocket science - get up - post roll - and work like hell to keep your commitment that day. THIS ONE SMALL CHANGE IN MY DAY MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD! What's the old saying about the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing and expecting a different result? I needed to change something in my life - anything. What started out as a burden turned into something I looked forward to - I liked seeing my name on those milestone days - I liked watching the progress of my fellow AJAYS and seeing them hit their milestones. You start getting in the 90 day area and the excitement for each other's accomplishments starts buzzing. Man it's great seeing all these guys hit the HOF. More importantly - I realized - I never want to go back to the way I was.
2 Minute Warning - If you are reading this and are still on the fence about your quit. You can rationalize the hell out of when to start quitting, but you need to realize - there is no right time to quit - there is just now. Your brain is not going to change it's addiction to nicotine - today or tomorrow or a week from now. The time is now - the hardest step is the first one - but it's also the best one. Throw it away and get started - don't think it's impossible - this site is full of guys who felt the same way.
Keep chugging away my fellow Ajays - that HOF train still has lots of room!
