Back in 2013 when I was separated from my husband and about to go through a divorce, I decided that I wanted to get into better shape. I knew it would be work, but having a stronger body was important to me. I had lots of friends who talked about entering strength competitions together and I was feeling left out.

Several of them had done a Ragnar (200-mile relay race), another few had done a Tough Mudder (an obstacle course over several miles and with lots of challenging and mud-soaked obstacles), some had run marathons, half-marathons…you name it.

I wanted to be stronger, and I wanted to be able to share those kinds of experiences with my friends. So I made a commitment to myself that I would improve my health and gain more strength.

I started “running” (I put that in quotes because what I call running I’m sure others would call jogging…at best). It was so hard!

I can’t tell you how many times I set out on a run only to start running and find that, for some reason, on that day, I could hardly make it half a mile without feeling like part of me was going to fall off, fall out, or give up.

Without the commitment I’d made to myself to improve my health, I never would have made it through those days. Sometimes I dreaded the run before it happened and sometimes I looked forward to it. But I never actually knew how I’d feel on the run until I started running.

I’ve found that growing strength in a business is a similar story.