Yesterday I ran for eight minutes.

That’s it. That’s all the margin I had left between meetings and work obligations.

I slept five hours.

I started at 7 a.m. and finished after 11 p.m.

It was raining outside and I decided to strap on my running shoes and go anyway.

For years I neglected these narrow windows of opportunity and skipped the few minutes of exercise available to me.

It felt too small a fraction to account for anything productive.

A good friend of mine walked me through a simple math equation that pros use:

[Small Margin] + [Consistency] x [Time] = Accumulated benefit

Meet Neal

He is a decorated runner, triathlete, and marathoner.

Here are the results related to running over time:

8 Minutes x 4 weeks x 12 months = 40 to 50 miles a year

What Neal decoded for me that day was that the best of the best, the elite athletes on the cover of magazines, choose to run for eight minutes instead of skipping it all together.

Don’t get stuck on this as a running story; running is only the metaphor.

Start acting like a pro

We believe the pros have:

• More time than us
• More margin than us
• Fewer conflicts than us

The truth is that a pro chooses to go for it anyway.

Whether it is running, investing in your marriage, trying to find a new job, or saving $3.22 at a time…

It all adds up.

Are you willing to act like a pro and go anyway?