First, Tony looked hungover in this video. I’m fairly certain he wasn’t :) But he was unshaven, mentioning injuries and being sore, and definitely didn’t look like he wanted to work out. At one point he complained about not being able to do a certain exercise but said he’d do his best.

What I find remarkable about Tony is that he still showed up.

This whole series is that way. He doesn’t have to do it. The production costs are tiny. He could have punted and said, “nah, I’m beat. Let’s film this thing tomorrow.” But he still showed up.

Reminds me of another successful guy who keeps showing up, the guy who writes the Dilbert comic, Scott Adams.

Here’s what I do when I know I should exercise but I feel too tired and droopy to imagine doing a vigorous workout. Instead of doing what I feel I can’t do, I do what I can do which is put on my exercise clothes and lace my sneakers. Central to my method is that I grant myself 100 percent permission to not exercise, even after getting suited up for it. This is important because I know I won’t take the first step of donning my exercise clothes if I feel it will commit me to something that just seems impossible in my current frame of mind. But once the sneakers and shorts are on, a funny thing happens, and it happens quickly. The physical feeling I get from my exercise clothes triggers the going-to-the-gym subroutine in my brain, and my energy kicks up a notch. It’s like Pavlov’s salivating dogs.

Most of the friends and folks who email me for advice seem to be stuck at the point where they won’t lace up. They have some idea, but they haven’t picked out the perfect name yet, or business structure, or they don’t know how they’ll balance things with their current job if they start having success. There’s always something.

One friend was worried about not being able to handle the load a hypothetical client might have. Did he have the client yet? No. Had he even talked with prospective clients yet? No.

As I look back on things I’ve started, a big reason they were successful is simply that I got started without really caring if I’d complete them well or even complete them at all. Because of course, they didn’t all pan out like I originally envisioned. But I laced up and got in the room. I started the LLC, I chose a name, I started writing some code, talked to some customers. Things shut down, things didn’t sell, some things I didn’t even complete, and some ideas were terrible. But just getting in the room, I kept learning regardless. Eventually I got good enough that I could sell things. I could start a business and it would last.

Get in the room.