What’s Written on Your Note?

The Pentagon was struck by hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 on September 11, 2001. Six hijackers were among the deaths of the 64 passengers. They were killed alongside an additional 125 persons in the building. The remains of the deceased are commemorated at the Pentagon Memorial, and the nation will never forget them.

One of them, though, left behind more.

The Pentagon attack victims were transported to Dover Air Force Base. All CIA agents (spies) are brought here before being buried. Astronauts from the space shuttle Columbia, victims of the bombing of the USS Cole are all brought here in preparation for their burial by the morticians at Dover.

One of the morticians discovered the ultimate message in a bottle while conducting an autopsy on the Flight 77 passengers: a little note hastily scrawled in a passenger’s stomach.

The traveller penned a note and then consumed it. The note was protected by stomach acids while the plane was burning.

What did the note say? That is a secret. The fact that the message was received is what matters.

The traveller didn’t know if they would survive or not. With a very slim chance that it might be detected, they penned the note nevertheless and ate it.

Turning to you now.

Most people don’t devote much time to being fit.

I have seen the figures. On January 1, more than 53% of new gym members resigned before April 1. The majority of those who are left will go to the gym no more than three times per month. And in surveys of the sector, the majority of THESE individuals will state that they are “frustrated with their lack of growth.”

Not you though.

At least for a while, EVERYONE of those members gave it their all. Nobody joins a gym thinking they can be lazy or thinking they won’t have to work hard; the survivors didn’t “want it more.” What makes a difference, then? They shared the same WHAT. Probably pretty fantastic was their WHY. Only their HOW was different. Then they gave up.

What if the exercisers had sent a message in a bottle to us? What would it convey?

What if you were encapsulating YOUR OWN message for the next thousand exercisers or for YOU in the future?

What would you put down?

Assume you had thirty seconds, a used napkin, and no more than twelve words to say.

What would you put down?

Write it to me.

Open an email draft, type it in, and send it to me at [email protected].

And if you ever need to hear your words again in the future—in five years, five months, or even five seconds—ask me for them. I’ll keep them all.