| On June 3rd, 1948, a blast rocked the Black Hills of | | | | survive. In stark contrast, when they were struggling |
| South Dakota. Ten tons of stone were dislodged from | | | | through a hard winter in the Rockies, they managed to |
| the mountainside and tumbled to the earth below. | | | | drag equipment, supplies, guns, and tools over |
| Earlier that day, a man named Korczak had ascended | | | | treacherous mountain passes while subsiding on |
| the mountain and single-jacked four holes at 6,740 feet | | | | nothing more than roots. The entire journey traversed |
| above sea level. | | | | over 8,000 miles and lasted several years, but the men |
| Single-jacking is the practice of placing a drill-bit against | | | | and woman set forth knowing only what they wished |
| hard rock, slamming it with a four-pound sledge | | | | to accomplish and focused on achieving it one day at |
| hammer, then rotating the drill and banging it again until | | | | a time. |
| the hole is finished. It is a labor-intensive effort and a | | | | They took their first steps without any knowledge of |
| single man might only drill six to eight feet over the | | | | the land they were about to enter - it was terra |
| course of a day. | | | | incognito. Is a healthy physique "unknown territory" to |
| Over the following years more than eight million tons of | | | | you? It is easier to overcome fear of the unknown |
| rock would be blasted away. What was once a silent | | | | when you are in pursuit of greatness. |
| silhouette in stone began to take on a new shape. It | | | | What does it take to step onto the treadmill to run a |
| would not be until over a decade after Korczak's | | | | few miles? What courage is necessary to enter the |
| death - a full fifty years after he single-jacked the first | | | | weight room and force several pounds of iron to |
| holes - that the face of his muse, the proud Lakota | | | | move against the will of gravity? The small excuses |
| warrior named "Crazy Horse," would emerge. What | | | | that keep you away from your goals are the |
| Korczak had begun in obscurity by constructing his | | | | dangerous ones. They are the little dream-stealers, |
| own 714-step stairway to the summit (one he | | | | attacking greatness. Living healthy is about more than |
| ascended and descended multiple times in a single | | | | simply losing weight or looking great on the beach. It is |
| day) is now known throughout the world. Over 10,000 | | | | about excellence. |
| hikers converge for the annual hike to the top of the | | | | Wouldn't weight-loss be easy if it were just a "thing?" |
| mountain to view the face that alone is taller than | | | | We do "things" every day. We brush our teeth, go |
| Mount Rushmore. | | | | shopping, and prepare dinner. These "things" are part |
| One billion postage stamps with the likeness of Crazy | | | | of our daily existence, and are as easy as watching |
| Horse have been issued over the last few decades. It | | | | the rain. So why is living healthy such a struggle to |
| all started with a single hike up the mountain by man | | | | many? Perhaps it is because you are chasing |
| who was humble enough to begin the project by | | | | something more than a number on the scale. Maybe |
| himself but had a vision large enough to believe he | | | | you feel that if you burn that fat, you will find your true |
| could transform a mountain into the noble image of a | | | | self underneath. During the chase, you are not really |
| native war hero declaring the extent of his lands. It | | | | losing weight - whether you like it or not, you are |
| was a vision of greatness. | | | | pursuing greatness. It is who we are. |
| How did something so monumental begin with such | | | | According to Jim Rohn, "the ultimate expression of life |
| humble roots? Perhaps the greatest clue left behind is | | | | is not a million dollars or a bank account or a home." It |
| the quotation found on the various knick-knacks in the | | | | is living a good life. Jim Rohn once lied to a Girl Scout |
| gift shop next the mountain. I was moved when I | | | | because he did not have a single dollar in his wallet to |
| heard the phenomenal story of the Crazy Horse | | | | buy cookies from her. He vowed he would never be in |
| project and bought a souvenir not to remind me of | | | | that position again, and is now America's foremost |
| where I had been, but to encourage me to keep | | | | business philosopher - a millionaire who has spoken to |
| forging ahead to where I want to be. The beautiful | | | | hundreds of thousands. Jim shares that a good life |
| swirl of agate was not what commanded the most of | | | | includes productivity, good friends, culture, and religion. |
| my attention - it was the words that spoke to my own | | | | He tells us not to miss anything - not the game, not the |
| dreams. It reads: | | | | opera, not the movie. What are you missing? |
| When the Legends Die | | | | How hard is it to live the good life? We Americans are |
| The Dreams End | | | | numb to our present condition. We are programmed to |
| When the Dreams End | | | | sit in front of the television set to absorb a constant |
| There is No More Greatness | | | | stream of negative news, then punch the clock at a |
| Korczak insisted that it was not important to know | | | | job that is high-stress and low-pay with little time |
| when the monument will be finished. What was most | | | | remaining to live the good life. We are exhausted, so |
| important was to continue the dream. And continue the | | | | we slump in front of the latest sitcom to find pleasure |
| dream he did, through three separate operations to | | | | in someone else's life because we don't have the |
| remove six discs. After quadruple bypass surgery, he | | | | energy to live our own. Dr. Myron Wentz, who was |
| was back on the mountain supervising his children as | | | | born on a small farm only a few hundred miles north |
| they painted the outline of the massive horse's head. | | | | of Crazy Horse in North Dakota and is now pursuing |
| Crazy Horse, when completed, will be the world's | | | | greatness as a leader in the fight against degenerative |
| largest sculpture, taller than the great pyramids and | | | | disease, described the situation eloquently by stating |
| overshadowing the Washington Monument by eight | | | | "Most people die too long." |
| feet. | | | | It took me nearly a year to lose sixty-five pounds of |
| Seven of Korczak's ten children continue the dream to | | | | fat. I was not an overnight success story - I had to |
| this day along with his wife. Korczak himself rests | | | | work at it. It was a struggle and sometimes I would |
| peacefully in a mausoleum he built with his children | | | | backslide. When I'd stand on the scale to see that I had |
| before his death at the base of the mountain. | | | | taken two steps in the wrong direction, I'd dust myself |
| It is said the journey of a thousand miles begins with | | | | off, face the right direction, and keep moving forward. |
| the first footstep. Just as the act of carving Crazy | | | | Many people who were attempting to lose fat with me |
| Horse's face from living rock took fifty years, the | | | | gave up when they did not see their six-pack after a |
| quest to sculpt your own physique will not be fulfilled | | | | few weeks of sweating hard and eating clean. |
| overnight. Why is so difficult to hold onto the dream of | | | | Not content with being ordinary, I stubbornly refused to |
| living a healthy, fit life? Have we lost our Legends, and | | | | give in. Perhaps I can attribute some of my success to |
| let the Dreams End? You may be amazed to learn | | | | my birth in Sturgis, South Dakota - a small town |
| that every ordinary person in this world is destined to | | | | nestled just inside the border of the Black Hills where |
| something extraordinary - if they are willing to stop | | | | many legends have roamed. I do not consider myself |
| trying to make it happen and instead able to search | | | | a legend, but I could relate to Korczak when I'd rouse |
| deep within to let it happen. | | | | myself early in the morning after only a few hours of |
| Are you ready to let success happen? | | | | sleep to step into the cold basement and onto the |
| A pound of fat contains approximately 3,500 calories. I | | | | unrelenting treadmill. I did not want to die too long - I |
| must admit, it was daunting to me when I began my | | | | was ready to live. |
| journey and realized I had 65 pounds of fat to lose. | | | | You see, I did not know how long it would take to |
| Sixty-five pounds of fat boasts more than a quarter | | | | reach my goal. I was unhappy and dissatisfied with |
| million calories. In our fast-paced world of instant | | | | how I was living my life. For things to change, I had to |
| gratification, I wanted the fat to disappear immediately. I | | | | change. I was not ready for just any change - I |
| did not want to single-jack those four holes and blast | | | | wanted to do something great. Korczak had his |
| away the first ten tons out of eight million ... instead, I | | | | mountain, I had my treadmill. What we shared was the |
| wanted the entire sculpture to reveal itself overnight. | | | | resolve to look beyond the next day and become part |
| Where was my magic bullet? | | | | of a greater vision. I might have only burned a few |
| Crazy Horse is in the Dakota Territory, which was first | | | | hundred calories per day, but those emptied fat cells |
| made famous to other Americas through the journals | | | | would never cause me grief again. It doesn't matter |
| of Lewis and Clark. Many of us today dread stepping | | | | when you reach that magic weight or fit into that |
| onto the treadmill or out into the cold morning air to run | | | | special pair of shorts. What matters is keeping the |
| a few miles. The Lewis and Clark expedition crossed | | | | dream alive every day. Live the good life. Strive for |
| the entire country from St. Louis to the west coast | | | | excellence. Excellence is not perfection; it is the pursuit |
| and back again. The majority of this was on foot, | | | | of greatness - it is perfecting the process of becoming |
| dragging boats laden with supplies upstream against | | | | your best. I remind myself of the dream to be my best |
| the aggressive current of the Missouri River. | | | | each and every day, because I know when the |
| One journal entry shared an extraordinary fact: each | | | | dreams end, there is no more greatness. |
| man consumed nearly twenty pounds of meat every | | | | Are you merely chasing the scale, or do you choose |
| day in order to supply the calories they needed to | | | | to pursue greatness? Never forget your dreams. |