Find someone to push you around!

Don’t let the title of this post fool you. It has nothing to do with bullying. And everything to do with supporting you in achieving your goals.

Let me explain.

Several years ago, I was about 35 pounds overweight. I had a serious addiction to muffins (which have more calories than you might expect) and the only real exercise I got was playing in the park with my daughter. And even that got me winded!

“I need to get into better shape,” I told myself one New Year’s Eve. So I made a resolution to start jogging.

Not right away, of course. Tomorrow. Or maybe the next day.

My first run, which I finally did sometime in the middle of January, was around the block. I got about halfway, then walked.

I had a plan, of course. I would jog a few minutes a day, five days a week, just to get into the habit.

But, for some reason, I couldn’t even stay motivated to do that much. I would miss a few days here and there. Then a whole week would slip by and I wouldn’t jog at all.

I decided I needed to give myself a push. So, in an act of reckless spontaneity, I signed up for a 5K (3.5 mile) road race.

What was I thinking? The race was just five weeks away. And I had never run, jogged, or even power-walked that distance in my life!

Panicked, I found a 5K training schedule on the internet and followed it rigorously.

Well, almost rigorously.

Again, I missed a few days here and there. I didn’t do any of the scheduled “long runs”.

Before I knew it, it was the day before the race. And I felt completely unprepared.

“I’m going to drop out,” I told my friend, Ron, a former tri-athlete who had agreed to run the race with me.

I explained to him in a very convincing way (hey, I’m a copywriter) exactly why it would not be a good idea for me to do the race. I didn’t finish the training program . . . I might get hurt because I’m not in good enough shape yet . . . I would just end up not finishing and disappoint my 5-year old daughter who would be waiting for her daddy at the finish line . . . (Yep, I shamelessly played that card.)

Ron didn’t buy a word of it.

“You’re doing the race,” he said in an almost parentally dismissive tone.

“Listen, I appreciate your support,” I countered. “But I’m not really quitting the race. I’m just re-scheduling. I’ll try a 5K in the fall when I’m in better shape and…”

“Tomorrow,” he said, cutting me off. “I’ll be waiting for you at the starting line. Be there.”

Pushy bastard. Who did he think he was? (At it turned out, he was being a friend.)

Early the next morning, Ron and I took our places at the starting line.

One minute before the race: “I’m just going to walk it.”

“You’re going to run it,” Ron said.

Ten seconds before the race: “I have to pee.”

“Pee later,” Ron muttered.

Then the starting gun went off. And to my amazement, I ran the entire distance without stopping, not even once. I crossed the finish line with my arms in the air, like an Olympic athlete who had just won the gold.

It was one of the best days of my life.

And if my friend hadn’t given me that push, I may not have ever achieved that milestone.

In fact, since that day, I have run several 10K races and a half-marathon. I’m currently training for the 30K (18.6 mile) Run-Around-The-Lake in Hamilton, Ontario — the oldest footrace in North America.

What does all this have to do with copywriting success?

If you have a big goal for your business this coming year, chances are, you’re going to need a serious push — or even a good kick in the you-know-what — at some point to achieve it. So find someone now who can do that for you . . . someone who won’t let you give up when the going gets tough.

That pushy friend might be just what you need to take your business where you want it to be in 2010.

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Steve Slaunwhite is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting A Web-Based Business and five other books. It’s only a coincidence that there’s a Starbucks on his jogging route.