The risk-free trial of anything has MANY pros. A test drive in the car, a flavor sample at JP Licks, the first quarter of the big game, a free week at a gym. And, it has the potential to pose us some problems too.

I am assuming with some certainty that your current 30 days discounted/risk-free trial of something is coming to an end in the next 7-10 days. Good news*, there will be another trial starting on February 1st for a similar product or service, and you’ll be able to jump there next.

Good news*

Except in some ways, it isn't actually that good. The hopping from “risk-free this” to “30-day discount that” only highlights and perpetuates a glaring issue that would be beneficial for us to solve.

Investment (or lack thereof).

Investment

• Imagine if you could only ever test drive cars, not buy them. How simple would your commute, weekend trips, or emergency trips to the vets/docs be?

• Imagine if you could only ever have a ridiculously small mini shovel-spoon of rum raisin at the ice cream shop when you wanted to enjoy a treat?

• Imagine if you could only watch the first 10 minutes of your favorite sports team when they were playing in the championship game?

This is frustrating just to write down never mind live. But many people do that with fitness, and though it’s a good idea to make sure you are in a place/program where you feel comfortable and can see yourself succeed, eventually we will need to buy the damn pint and get to eating.

Investing in our long-term health and fitness is a difficult challenge (don’t get me started on the fitness industry being punctuated by charlatans and quacks that make us mistrust it as a whole), but it nonetheless an incredibly important one.

So you’ve got a week or so left of that “risk-free” trial, and if I can, I’d like to share my professional and friendly advice (I see us as friends as an FYI) with you all;

Start now to envision yourself in that environment long-term.

Is it right for you?

Is future you happy there?

Is future you successful and fulfilled there?

Is future you proud of yoursel for giving consistent effort to the task there?

If so, then invest away. If not, then by all means try out something else but only with the intention of investing in the next 30 days. Investing in ourselves, and having some risk/urgency (be it financial or otherwise) is a great way to get stuck into a task and make the most of our time and efforts.

Cheers!