I got this in email and thought it was cool and wanted to share. Lately I've been thinking that some of the things I want to do are "crazy," so this was on point for me. Not to mention, it comes at the perfect time for my weight loss venture. See y'all in that thread later! 
Happy New Year!
For the last 12 years, I've written a New Year's message to my friends and readers of my books and magazines. Each year, I remind them of their opportunity to renew and improve in the 12 months ahead. I've encouraged them to focus on health and fitness; begin each day with at least 20 minutes of intense exercise; make eating right a lifestyle rather than a diet; set specific health-related goals and so on.
All of those recommendations are tried and true, and I stand by them. However, each year I learn more about what it takes to make miraculous changes for the better in your body and life. The more knowledge and insight I gain from people who've transformed, the more I realize that there's more to it than the bottom-line basics which I mentioned above.
The more "wise" I become about the transformation process, the more I realize how smart it is to "GO CRAZY!"
Let me explain...
I have heard again and again the "rational" person telling others it's "crazy" to think you can make a change like you see in the before and after pictures in my book Body-for-LIFE. "They" say you can't transform so much so fast and that it's crazy to think you can. Porter Freeman must have been crazy. He was 260 pounds, nearly half a century old and was more interested in eating potato chips and drinking beer every night than anything else. What logical reason did he have to think he could lose 54 pounds of fat and become lean, healthy, strong and so alive in just 12 weeks? Much less go on to become an inspiration to over a million people. But he did it!
How crazy is this: A boy is born in Austria under the shadow of oppression left by Hitler's Nazi war machine. He has an inspiration, passion, an idea that he can come to America and become a huge success. He becomes a world-champion athlete; goes on to have a 25-year career in film, which grosses over a billion dollars; marries into "American royalty," the Kennedy family; and then, with no "experience in politics," becomes the leader, the governor, of California. Yep... many would say that Arnold has spent his life doing things which are downright crazy! (The ideas weren't crazy to Arnold, by the way. That is an important point!)
Consider this example: Tom Archipley from Okemos, Michigan, decides to enter the Body-for-LIFE Challenge. He's excited about the idea of winning the $100,000 grand prize. He tells his friends. His friends tell him, "Tom, thousands of people enter that contest every year… You'll never win. You're crazy if you think you will!" He believes them. A few weeks later he stops working out. He throws in the towel. Yet he still has that desire to become lean, strong and healthy. So he tries again. Friends call him crazy. He quits again. A few months later, he still has the inspiration. He tries again. This time he decides that no matter what anyone says, he's going to follow his heart. "I decided I was in it to win it! All of it! The $100,000 grand prize. The new body. The new energy!" He not only finished my 12-week Body-for-LIFE Program, losing 31 pounds of fat and gaining 9 pounds of muscle, but as crazy as it sounds, I surprised him at his house one Sunday afternoon and awarded him the grand prize, including $100,000! (Now that's what I'm talkin' about!)
What about buying a bottle of pills you see in an advertisement claiming to burn all of your bodyfat without you having to do anything at all? Crazy, right? No. That's stupid! (There's a difference between crazy and stupid. You/we actually know inside if what we are about to do is stupid. So when in doubt, ask yourself.)
What about doing the same thing in 2004 which you did in 2003 and expecting a completely different result? Is that crazy? No... that's insane! (There's a difference between crazy and insane, too.)
Back in 1996 when I came up with the idea to offer my $250,000 bright-red Lamborghini Diablo as a prize in order to motivate people who were reading my magazine to apply the information they already knew about exercise and nutrition, what's the first thing you think other people told me? You know the answer… "Bill, that's crazy!" My reply: "Is it? Good!" It's to the point where if people with narrow vision and what I believe is an obscure perspective on human power, potential and possibilities don't tell me an idea's crazy, it's concerning!
Now, I'm not saying you need to run for governor, win the Body-for-LIFE Challenge, become rich and famous, etc., in order for you to "win" at this. In fact, your "crazy idea" may be quite the contrary. Consider a friend who had a six-figure salary, vice president position, a grand office and a view of Madison Avenue in New York City. His inspiration, the idea which he loved, was to move to the mountains with his beautiful wife and young son. His fellow corporate executives thought that was a crazy idea. Now he has his own real estate business in Vail, Colorado, where he and his family are loving the way they are living their transformed life!
What it all boils down to is this: What you feel excited about, passionate about, whatever transformations and healthy changes you want to make in your life in 2004, whatever really gets your motor running and makes you feel the pure, positive energy building up inside... well... that's something you should be giving some thought to as we begin this New Year. I'm not asking you to grab a piece of paper and write down more "resolutions," or make promises that you have no ability to keep, because they're not inspired by your passion, your heart. You see, far too many have tuned out that intuitive intelligence while mistakenly tuning in to what "they" (whomever they are) want you to want. What they think your goals should be.
And so, sometimes you have to go a little crazy—you have to go against the grain—in order to tap into your true energy, excitement and power to change. If you don't, it can get stuffed down, held back and feared, not celebrated. Why? It may be that someone else might think what you want to do, how you want to transform and improve your life, is crazy. And I'm telling you that many "crazy ideas" are not crazy at all! They may just be the BEST ideas you'll ever have! The ones which really can change your life and the lives of others!
As I see it, your dreams and goals in 2004 should be grand, exciting, big! And when those dreams and ideas are pure in purpose, when they benefit others more than yourself, when they literally make the world a better place, a little or a lot, then that's the direction I encourage you to go. And if that's crazy, well, then count me in! Because that's exactly where I want to go as well! If you're not afraid, I'd love to see you up there, somewhere, in 2004!
Happy New Year!
Bill Phillips