I almost let myself down.

It was 6am, dark, and the gym wasn’t open for another hour.

We tried the rooftop of our apartment complex, hoping that there might be lights, but there was only darkness.

So I told my wife I’d do my workout in our room instead.

When things don’t go to plan, you need a compelling reason to keep going.

We got back to our apartment and I felt my thighs aching from the past day’s workout.

I said, “let’s just go in and I’ll return to the gym later”.

But something inside me knew that if I went to our room and jumped on my computer there would be no gym later.

You can make excuses or you can make progress.

I told myself it was now or never.

I owed it to myself, and my amazing wife who woke up at 6am to support me too.

So I stopped in the hallway, asked my wife to set the 10-min countdown and signal me to switch every 30 seconds.

I hit the ground for my first set of mountain climbers.

Half way through my workout the hallway lights went out.

I kept going.

With 2 minutes left my body was aching.

I kept going.

When the timer went off I was relieved and invigorated at the same time.

So next time obstacles come up on the way to achieving your goal, ask yourself:

Will you make excuses or make progress?