What My Book Is About

In my “Yes, I’m Writing a Book” post, I described my motivations for doing that.  I got some lovely feedback and a few requests for more info.  So here’s a little clip from the book’s in-progress intro …

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GETTING HEALTHY IS A TRIP. And I mean that in more ways than one. 

It’s a remarkable, mind-blowing “whoa, dude” sort of head trip, for sure. But it’s also a significant personal journey, and rarely a predictable or uneventful one.

Remember the setup for the TV show Gilligan’s Island, where those ill-fated passengers head out on a nice little “three-hour tour” only to find themselves tossed around by a monster hurricane and shipwrecked on an uncharted desert island?

Yeah, well, initial attempts at healthy living often turn out a lot like that.

People start out thinking they are just going to slim down, shape up, maybe drop a pants size or two. And instead, they wind up blown off course, spun around, marooned, and struggling just to find their way back to where they started.

One of the first problems people encounter is that they have no idea what they are up against, or just how off course they really are.

The maps they’ve been given are a mess: outdated, mislabled, drawn out of scale, smudged with goo, maybe even missing whole sections.

There are thousands of these messed-up maps in circulation. They are all purportedly focused on the same destination (“Lose weight! Feel great! Your best body ever!), yet they all offer inconsistent and conflicting directions.

Worse still, most have no true-north directional indicator and no “you are here” symbol to give you a sense of where you’re starting from.

You can imagine about how well a voyage undertaken with maps like that is going to go. And you can see why so few people reach their desired destination.

This book you are holding contains the simpler, more straightforward map I wish I’d had when I started out.

It’s the sort of hand-made map a friendly local draws for you on piece of scrap paper when you’ve gotten lost in an unfamiliar area.

It gives you all the relevant information you need and none of the stuff you don’t. Just major landmarks and turns — plus any really important warnings you’ll need (“Note: Avoid Bermuda Triangle!”) in order to stay out of serious trouble.

The map I’m giving you will get you where you are going with a minimum of fuss and nonsense, but it also allows you some room for creativity and self-expression. It lets you travel at your own pace, make some notes and doodles, and take a few fun side trips of your own.

That’s important, because a voyage like this is as much an art as it is a science. Every person’s journey necessarily involves a certain amount of exploration and experimentation.

What it doesn’t require is getting marooned or wandering lost for months or years at a time.

If I had this sort of map when I was starting out on my own healthy-living journey, I would have gotten healthy and fit years faster, without all the time-wasting, fuel-guzzling detours, and without nearly as much frustration and heartache.

I would also have had a lot more fun.

The ironic thing is, for as bewildering all this health journey seems at the beginning, once you get past the detours and confusion — once you get into your groove of healthy living — it is actually not all that tough to pull off. And it turns out to be far more rewarding experience than you could every have imagined.

So by now you might be wondering, “But, hey, if all this helpful guidance exists, why haven’t I had access to it before now?”

For the moment, let’s just say that you’ve probably been puttering around in the wrong part of the ocean. And maybe you’ve been stopping to ask for directions on pirate-infested islands where, rather than drawing you handy little maps, the locals are more inclined to baffle you with nonsense, lead you down dark alleyways, sucker-punch you and steal your money.

Such is the state of most conventional health information and media these days. So, that’s the bad news. (Sorry!)

The good news is, you don’t have to stay in that miserable backwater.

Starting now, you have the opportunity to escape the unhealthy fate that has befallen so many others. An opportunity to get new coordinates, access better directions, navigate your own destiny and maybe even bring some your friends and loved ones along for the ride.

First, though, I want to make sure you’ve got everything you need for a safe, successful and enjoyable journey.

In addition to your handy dandy map, you’re also going need a renegade mindset, some survival skills, and some early, easy wins — progress markers that say: “Yes! You’re headed in the right direction. Keep going!”

So that’s what this book contains: the map, the mindset, the survival skills and (via the 14-Day Revolutionary Reboot program), some early, easy wins.

The one other thing you’re going to need is the willingness to explore. That’s something only you can supply, but I know you’ve got it in you. Otherwise, you would never have picked up this book in the first place.

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So, that’s a little of the book in progress. That’s what I’m up to these days.

While I’ve got my head down over the next year or so, I’d love to hear from you — about where you’re at on your own healthy-life journey, where you’ve gotten stuck, and where you’ve made the most powerful, successful strides.

What are the healthy-living arts you’ve mastered that have made the most difference, and which are you still struggling to acquire or polish? What are the resources you’ve found most helpful?

I’m excited to share updates and insights as my work progresses. If you want the latest, plus regular infusions of renegade wisdom, please pop your email address into the yellow banner on my home page. Also connect with me via social media (scroll to bottom of this page for links to all my channels). That way, we can keep in touch, and you can drop me some updates of your own whenever you feel inspired.