We have all heard it before, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.

It sets the stage for everything to follow.

It jump starts your brain and applies the nutrition necessary to maximize your time until your next “refueling” (i.e. lunch).

Breakfast is also fun, especially in the south.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a real southern breakfast can tell you that it is a feast.

From scrambled eggs to biscuits and gravy, cheese grits to peanut butter toast, it is an awesome way to start your day. If you are lucky, you might even score with waffles and fried chicken.

That is why southerners are always so happy in the morning, yet sleepy by noon. They can’t help it if breakfast is the best meal of the day.

The same holds true for other cultures, some more so than others.

Europeans like their fruit and breads, Canadians prefer spreads with cheese and bagels, and New Yorker’s are in a class by themselves. Some folks eat in a more formal setting, while others prefer to eat while they drive in to work. Yet in the end, we start every day with a tradition that sets us on a path to success.

Hmmm… maybe that’s the problem.

You see, breakfast was never intended to be the beginning; it’s really the end.

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I am a big fan of Tony Horton, the fitness guru of P90X fame. He’s a great guy and can-do things at 60+ years of age a lot of teenagers cannot dream of accomplishing.

He is inspirational yet practical, motivational yet realistic. Each of his workouts are designed to help the individual person no matter what level of fitness you currently possess, but he always does it with a “goal” in mind.

One of my favorite sayings from Tony is “write it down”. He believes in tracking progress on a daily basis. He believes it is the only way you can improve, and the only way you can adapt.
He is right.

His philosophy holds true for everything in life, especially financial freedom and the goals you create in order to live the life you deserve. It is the fuel that ultimately allows you to help and serve as many people as possible along the way.

Tony knows this and stresses it in everything he does. He is often quoted as saying “How do you know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been?”

Those words should resonate with all of us.

How many of you know where you are going?

How many of you have financial goals? My guess is 100% of you.

How many of you write it down? My experience says, less than 10% of you.

How many of you have “hopes and dreams” for your future, but you find it hard to gauge because you don’t have a realistic point of reference? In other words, you can’t remember where you have been.

Do you see my point?

One of the things we stress for our clients and work hard to deliver is a process that helps you “write it down”.

At the Perfect Plan, we supply our clients with a business strategy for every aspect of their financial lives. It is a key part of their Perfect Plan Day, and is designed to help you “write it down”, even if it is just metaphorically.

We do this so you will always know where you have been and where you are going. It is a simple tool that allows you to approach life with a “wide angle lens”, while always tracking your progress.

It is the best way to know where you are going.

It is the best way to set the goal.

It is the only way to accomplish the mission.

If this were about push-ups and pull-ups, Tony would be proud.

Financial freedom and peace come from clarity. It is a product of knowing where you are going based on where you are today, and where you have been in the past. The only way to do it is to write it down, and we make it as easy as possible to do it.

Want to know the best part? You don’t have to break a sweat.

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“Breakfast” has always been strange to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I can eat biscuits and gravy with best of them, but I happen to know what the word really means.

“Breakfast” is not the beginning, but the end.

It is a true celebration of Thanksgiving, not because of the food, but what has occurred.
The word “Breakfast” literally means to “break the fast”. It is the end time of “fasting.”

A “fast”, or the act of “fasting”, is the willingness to abstain from a food or behavior for a certain period of time. Most people think of the religious applications for fasting, but it has nutritional and mental aspects to it as well.

Fasting is a time to prepare for the things to come.

Originally, the term “breakfast” was used to denote the celebratory meal enjoyed at the end of “fasting”, and was almost always done at sunrise. It was a moment to be thankful for the cleansing your body, mind, or soul.

It is a sincere moment gratitude.

Therefore breakfast celebrated the “end” not the beginning.

In life, we have a lot of “beginnings”, but they are usually predicated because something else has ended.

We should celebrate both, the beginning and the ending of everything, especially the seasons.

Here is something cool to think about:

Think about what would happen if you had the opportunity to plan for a new beginning, even if it meant you would have to experience a cleansing or a “fasting” in order to get it done.

The beginning of spring is fun and always something to celebrate. Memorial Day seems to celebrate the beginning summer, but it too will end.

When summer does end, in about 90 days, what will you celebrate?

Memories? Vacations?

How about “accomplishments”?

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If you knew you had 90 days to cleanse your mind, body, and soul, what would you cleanse it from?
If you set a goal and spent the next 90 days preparing to start, what would it be like?

If during those 90 days, you took the time to study the past, while preparing for the future (because you have it written down), how successful will you be?

If you committed to a “fasting” and prepared for a future that would provide unlimited success and the ability to help and serve others along the way, would you celebrate?

I think you would, because I know you, and you are just like me. We all are.

So here is my summer “challenge” to you.

Answer these simple questions:

What do you need to prepare for?

What do you need cleansing from?

What do you want to celebrate?

Write it down and keep it to yourself.

Lets celebrate together, at breakfast, in 90 days.

As Tony would say… “Bring it!”