As the story goes, an elderly Cherokee grandfather was walking with his grandson and striving to impart some grandfatherly wisdom. “Within us,” the old man began, “are two wolves locked in a constant state of battle.

Last week, I received an email with this subject:

"This One Thing Will Change Your Life Overnight."

Tempting right? But we know the truth: anything worth having takes work, time and consistent effort. One way to help you get there is to apply the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen.

Winter walking does a body good. It fights inflammation, burns extra calories, fires up those endorphins and clears the mind. But winter walking does present some challenges and requires a little extra effort to stay safe. Here are eight things to be mindful of:

A deep freeze has gripped much of the nation. Yesterday, the temperature in Sag Harbor was 7, there were patches of ice where an earlier rain had frozen and branches continued to be brought down by the howling wind. A friend in Michigan reported it was -19 and even in Florida, my mother abandoned her morning walk because it was just too cold. 

When it is cold, millions of years of evolution tells us to seek shelter and stay in the cave. Don't expend any unnecessary energy. And eat up because the cold is taxing on your body and you don't know where your next meal is coming from.

We need to fight that urge. We need to push ourselves to remain active. In fact, walking in cold weather has a slew of benefits. Here are five:

We’ve all rediscovered the fanny pack. In Style Magazine reports that “Celebrities Celebrities Are Obsessed with This Retro Accessory.” As an incredibly busy working mama, 99 Walks’ Pack Leader, I couldn't be happier.

I bought a simple black Herschel fanny pack (okay, they call them “hip packs” now but we all know what they are don’t we?) from Urban Outfitters. Herschel. Urban Outfitters. Cool by definition right?

My 13-year-old-fashion-conscious teen was horrified when I told her what I had done. But then I modeled it for her. “Well, it’s not as bad as I thought,” she conceded.

Setting goals is important because if you don’t know where you are going, you are likely to get lost.

Effective goal setting takes practice. Set the bar too low, and you won’t achieve as much as you might. Set it too high and you set yourself up for failure. Make your goals too ambiguous and you’ll be unable to track your progress or know when you have achieved them. And, perhaps most importantly, setting goals that are not deeply, truly and profoundly important to you is a waste of time because you will never be inspired to do the hard work it will take to get there.

My son was born on January 17, during the heart of winter in New York. An emergency C-section left me more bruised and battered than I had expected. Sitting in the blue nursing chair in the baby’s room two weeks later, I called Judi, my C-section mentor (she’d been through two), and cried, “when does it stop hurting?”

My life is busy. We are all busy. Often too busy. Yet we keep adding to our plates. Saying yes. Taking on new projects. Why? I don't think it is simply because we "can't say no." I think it is more complicated.