When I was in fifth grade, I got myself a paper route delivering the Omaha World Herald.
This was a life-changing moment for me because I had to get up at 5 AM. After getting up, I walked downstairs and found a stack of papers on the front porch. I put the papers in a canvas bag and positioned the cross-body strap over my left shoulder as the papers hung to the side of my right hip. And out the door I went.
Each day I walked a good three miles delivering to my customers, whilst those who delivered the Des Moines Register walked five or six blocks to deliver the same number of papers. My customers were usually located a block or more apart, while our competitor delivered to almost every household. Such was life in southwest Iowa.
I didn’t win any prizes for taking 90 minutes to do what other paperboys accomplished in a half-hour. But this first job began to develop my body, giving me strength and endurance.
One morning, when I was a good mile from home, I met an annoying competitive paperboy who was a few years older, and none the wiser. He used to greet me by hollering, “Long time no smell.”
He usually had a quart of chocolate milk in hand that he purchased from the milkman that was making home deliveries. He encouraged me to get some as well, so I approached the milk truck on the side of the road and bought my first quart.
It wasn’t long before I was hooked on chocolate milk. And it only took a couple weeks for the new habit to show its unsightly rolls.
Not only did I begin packing on extra unwanted pounds, but the profits I was seeing from my paper route dwindled down to nada.
My mom took note of both negatives.
She told me, “If you continue to drink chocolate milk every morning, you’ll not only have no money, but you will get so fat you will need to be rolled down the street.” When my mom said this, an image came to mind of the rolling pin she used when kneading flour in the kitchen.
No, no, no. Not the rolling pin.
So I gave up chocolate milk and haven’t touched it since.
I tell you this story because, for some inexplicable reason, these memories of my paper route days resurfaced yesterday, and I feel compelled to write about them in this email… so I’m going with the flow.
But… I also have some really great news that is “happening now.”
This morning we filmed a new product that will be available soon as a digital download, or on DVD. This is the first stand-alone health and fitness product I have created since 2007. Yikes! It’s been 15 years?
It sure has.
I realize you’ve waited a long time for something totally new from me, but it’s going to be more than well worth the wait.
This morning I was up at 6:45, getting my mind and body ready for the shoot that will begin to reveal the secrets I have learned over the last 15+ years on developing tendon strength, increasing mobility, healing injuries and recovering from exhausting workouts and/or stressful living.
I’ll let you know when this product goes live, as you WILL want to grab it as soon as it becomes available. I believe it will be ready within a couple weeks.
In the interim, you can prepare yourself for this course by following the exercises in my international best-seller, Combat Conditioning, as well as the 1914 Farmer Burns classic, Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture.
Both courses continues to turn old, tired and seemingly useless bodies into finely tuned machines.
Make sure you have them in your old-school library.
Kick azz – take names!
Matt Furey
By the Way… I see a lot of copywriters signing up for this email newsletter, and that’s wonderful. But it is also grossly insufficient. If you really want to learn the Fureyesque way of writing magnificent copy, become part of my Zen Mastery Group so you can really learn how it’s done. NOW!
