Sports analogies may not have universal appeal but, even if you are not a big sports fan or participant, you probably share the ongoing pursuit of weight and fitness management.

As the years go by we are advised to “move more and eat less” and each of us finds our own path to try to achieve the results we desire. While not a competitive contest in the pure sense, it is an ongoing challenge to set realistic goals and then carry out the daily requirements to achieve them. If we want to be successful, as defined by our goals, then we need to have discipline to push ourselves each and every day.

In my quest for better health I decided to stop teasing one of my best friends for his chosen path and reluctantly joined him. He has continued to get fitter as the years went by, and while his diet certainly played a role, it was his fitness regime that I chided him about. My friend, who was a large lineman in football like me, has taken up not just yoga but “hot” yoga.

Now before I relate my experience to selling retail travel, let me paint the picture of my yoga practice to date. First of all, I did no study or exploration of yoga before jumping into my first class. I still do not know any of the official names of the various poses. Indeed, for those of you who are yoga aficionados, I apologize for my naiveté. I just listen, watch and attempt to follow the instructor.

Yoga is amazing because there is no equipment and most of the basic level movements seem relatively easy, until you put all those movements together in an hour-long session in a sweltering hot room. Since I am typically one of the only males, and usually the oldest person in the room and certainly the only football lineman among the young limber contortionists, it has been and still is a humbling experience.

Now some of you may be giggling at the picture of an old guy trying to put his leg behind his head, but you also may be wondering why in the world I would do it in a sauna. The answer is simple: I don’t know. But it is what my buddy was doing, so I followed his lead.

I have learned that yoga does help stretch the muscles and eliminate toxins. So now I have warm muscles that are just as sore. At the end of each class I notice that most of my classmates have a glow. I, on the other hand, have set records for water displacement. I look like I have just crawled out of a pool and the folks on either side of me have built little dams to hold back the flooding rivers stemming from the largest blob in the room.

With this description I am sure you are waiting for the effusive soliloquy describing how much I love each and every class. Even my rivers of sweat can’t float that boat. It hurts and it is hard work. After each class I wonder if it will cure me or kill me. But even though I still cannot get my toe anywhere near my ear — not a specific goal of mine — I am starting to see results that make it all worthwhile. That is why I love the fact that yoga is referred to as “your practice”— it is at your level, at your pace.

Since results are what we need in selling travel, I suggest you start a program called “Hot Travel.” You can use lessons from yoga and follow an intensive series of exercises that will go through each part of the sales process. It will test your attitude, skills and knowledge, and force you to do some things that just plain hurts (like role playing, group critiques of your sales scripts and more). If you want to participate in Hot Travel you need to agree to the following:

First, set specific goals for your business and determine the path to get there. Second, commit to whatever it takes to reach those goals, including doing things you don’t want to do. Third, make sure you are ready to be humbled as you try new things and feel awkward experimenting with new ideas. Fourth, be ready for some pain as you stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. Finally, schedule short, highly intensive focused periods of time on a weekly basis to go through the steps to reach your goals.

There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going, so create your own Hot Travel routine and push yourself to where you know your mind can take you!