For the longest time, I had convinced myself that the only thing standing between me and losing weight was a gym membership.

"I need Planet Fitness."

"I need better equipment."

"I'll take it seriously once I'm paying for it."

I kept telling myself those things over and over. Looking back, they weren't reasons. They were excuses. Because the truth was, I had a gym in my apartment complex the entire time.

One day, I got tired of listening to my own excuses. I remember telling myself, "Tomorrow morning at 5:00, you're going to the apartment gym. You're staying for twenty minutes. Even if you feel like doing more, you're stopping at twenty."

Why twenty minutes?

Because I wasn't trying to build muscle.

I was trying to build consistency.

I knew myself. If I walked in there trying to work out for an hour on Day One, I'd be sore, I'd dread going back, and I'd probably quit by the end of the week. Twenty minutes was something I couldn't argue with. The next week, I added ten more minutes. Then a little more. Then a little more.

I also knew if I waited until after work, I'd have an excuse every single day. "I'm tired." "Work was stressful." "I'll just go tomorrow."

So I had to outsmart myself.

Five in the morning wasn't easy.

But neither was being chunky.

I was tired of buying bigger clothes, and I was even more tired of negotiating with myself.

Ninety days later, I had lost sixty-five pounds.

Most people would probably look at that story and think it's about weight loss.

It isn't.

It's about using what I had instead of waiting for what I wanted.

That apartment gym didn't have everything I wanted, but it had everything I needed to build consistency. I even told myself that once I proved I could stay consistent, then I'd reward myself with a gym membership. The reward wasn't for getting started.

The reward was for sticking with it.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wasn't just doing this with the gym.

We do this at work too.

"I'll start leading when I become a manager."

"I'll mentor people once I have more experience."

"I'll speak up once people know who I am."

"I'll build that system once I'm in charge."

Maybe.

But maybe not.

Because if you can't lead with what you have now, what makes you think a promotion is suddenly going to teach you how?

Titles don't teach leadership.

They reveal whether you've been practicing it.

Lately, my Bible study has been going through a series called The Training Ground, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about those words.

Training ground.

Think about it.

Nobody expects a training ground to be perfect. You're supposed to get things wrong there. You're supposed to be challenged. You're supposed to build endurance. You're supposed to quit sometimes, get back up, and keep going.

That's why it's called training.

I wonder how many of us are standing in our training ground asking God for the next level while ignoring the opportunities He's already put in front of us.

If you want to become a leader, find ways to lead.

You don't need direct reports to encourage somebody.

You don't need a management title to make someone else's job easier.

You don't need permission to solve a problem.

You don't need to be the boss to come prepared to a meeting.

You don't need a promotion to build trust.

Those are leadership reps.

You're becoming the kind of person who can handle more when more eventually comes.

Quick side note, because I know somebody is thinking it.

"Well, Devin, I've been doing work above my pay grade for years."

I'm not talking about letting organizations take advantage of you. People deserve to be paid fairly, and there comes a point where you absolutely have to advocate for yourself.

When that time comes, don't just walk into the conversation with feelings.

Walk in with receipts.

Here's what I took on.

Here's the impact it had.

Here's the value I created.

Results make those conversations a whole lot easier.

My grandfather used to tell me, "Baby, no matter what you do, be the best at it. Even if you're sweeping the floor, sweep that floor better than anybody else."

When I was younger, I thought he was talking about sweeping.

Looking back, I think he was talking about character.

He was teaching me that excellence starts long before recognition does.

I never needed Planet Fitness to become someone who exercised consistently.

I needed the apartment gym.

I needed twenty minutes.

I needed to stop negotiating with myself.

Maybe you've been waiting on a promotion.

Maybe you've been waiting on a better boss.

Maybe you've been waiting on more resources.

Maybe you've been waiting on someone to finally give you a chance.

Here's my question.

What if you already have enough to get started?

Not everything you want.

Just enough for today.

Start on a random Thursday.

Lead from where you are.

One day, when the opportunity you've been praying for finally shows up, you won't have to figure out how to become the leader it requires.

You've been training for it all along.