I’m Matt, and welcome to Steady Beats. If you like to walk for a better life, and also like Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life,” you just might like this newsletter.

Fitness Beats

What are the BS stories you tell yourself about your fitness?

I just discarded one of my go-to limiting beliefs.

For at least 10 years — maybe 20 — I’ve consistently said I “hate indoor cardio,” using various justifications:

• It’s boring
• I can't stand moving … but not actually moving
• I need the scenery to change

Etc., etc. On and on.

Recently here in Tampa we set a heat index record for 10 days in a row. My outside runs were crushing me.

So I did the unthinkable.

I went inside a gym and got on the elliptical machine. For long sessions, too. Forty-five minutes, an hour, sometimes even 90 minutes. In fact on some days I’ve split the workouts and gone twice: mornings and post-work.

And I’m enjoying it.

The sessions fly by. I read a book on my iPad. I watch YouTube videos. I listen to music and see what I can learn from people strength training as I look down to the first floor of the gym.

Two decades of my own BS, eroded in days.

Test your own fitness assumptions. You might be wrong. I was.

---

Book beats

I’m reading two books right now—here are some early takeaways.

If Only He Knew

I have been married nearly 22 years and absolutely do not have it all figured out.

If He Only Knew is a classic, based on biblical principles and scripture, for being a better husband. At about halfway through, I’d say the main ideas are:

• Be gentle
• Listen with empathy and without being prescriptive
• Focus on genuine love, which we cannot deliver without God’s grace
• Be humble and own your mistakes

It’s easy to get caught up in challenges with finances, family, and other issues at any stage of a marriage. These are good reminders and principles, especially for those of us who have been married for decades.

10X is easier than 2x

From Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, this book argues getting to 10x results is impossible without jettisoning a whole bunch of stuff that wastes time and doesn’t work.

Therefore, 10x is actually easier than 2X results, which requires a lot higher volume of whatever you’re currently doing.

Still early in reading this one, but hoping it has lots of exercises for thinking through these challenges. Getting to 10X in any area of life requires a lot of inside work on ourselves, instead of just a lot more work.

---

Thank you for reading.

Let’s keep the Steady Beats going. 💚

If you enjoyed this edition, would you mind giving the heart below a click?

---

Archived from Matt's newsletter.