Silly excuses. Let’s face it, we all have them. You know the kind. Like when you’ve said you really want to start painting your art again but instead find yourself on an evening or weekend saying "I’d love to but I don’t have time, I have to do the laundry." Or you say you want to get fit and boost your health but then say to yourself at the end of the day "I’m too tired to exercise". Know where that leads you? (hint: you won't like the answer...)
Silly excuses. Let’s face it,
we all have them. You know the kind. Like when you’ve said you really want to start painting your art again but instead find yourself on an evening or weekend saying "I’d love to but I don’t have time, I have to do the laundry." Or you say you want to get fit and boost your health but then say to yourself at the end of the day "I’m too tired to exercise".
Whether you admit it or not, you know you have them (I know I do) and they can run the spectrum from "too tired" to "I just think I need to clean the entire bathroom tile with a small toothbrush before I can ". Believe me even the most successful entrepreneurs are not immune. I often read about my colleagues confessing that when they have a big deadline looming or something important to work on for their business strategy it is those times that the most laundry and cleaning gets done as they procrastinate from doing the very thing that will bring them what they desire. I’m not perfect either as on more than one occasion I have been known to bake cookies rather than handle something in my business because it just plain old felt more comfortable. What about those first few months in my business? Well, neighbors and friends were well supplied with baked goods and still hold me responsible for weight gain. Thankfully for me my coach was expert at keeping me focused and on track with my vision even with my occasional bouts of baking.
While it may sound funny and we all know we do it from time to time (and that’s ok, we’re human after all)...do you know what a consistent pattern of living by your silly excuses brings? As one of my clients shared this week..."All these silly excuses leads to a person deteriorating."
I invite you to take a moment and really think about this most powerful statement: your silly excuses lead to a person deteriorating. And that person is you.
After the initial impact of that very succinct and eloquent statement took hold for me I realized just how true it is. Have you ever said you wanted to reduce your debt and start saving money? Then, you found yourself out shopping and bought one more thing because of course it was on sale and you just can’t pass up the sign in the window that says sale, right? Or, you decided to consolidate your debt into one overwhelming chunk and pay it off. Before you knew it a few months passed and you suddenly had a bunch of debt again. How did THAT happen? Maybe you vowed you would start an emergency savings fund but found that you never quite had any "extra" money at the end of the month so years went by and you had nothing to show for it.
While this is just one financial related example, the same holds true for self-care (especially self-care because it is so easy to write ourselves right off our to-do list), taking stock of your long-range business planning, eating healthier, or any other desire you have.
In oh so many ways, rather than make empowering choices we let silly, unimportant excuses get in our way. A consistent string of seemingly small, silly excuses leads to our very own deterioration: of our health, well-being, financial independence, passion for life, and overall potential.
Have you ever noticed your desire to change and then thought, ok I am just going to do it all on my own. I know what I need to do and so it’ll just happen. I’ll go down to the bookstore, grab a great new self-help or DIY book on the topic and then all my problems will be solved. 30 days to a whole new life for me!
How has that been working for you? Are you seeing the results you desire? Even more importantly are you feeling the way you most want to feel? Or, are the books gathering dust and your excuses are still running your life they way it has always been (or maybe just an itsy bitsy incrementally bit better...you are a good reader after all).
I thought not. I know... I’ve been there and tried that. Why doesn’t this approach work even for talented, intelligent, and self-sufficient people like you and me?
Because if just reading about it, thinking about it, or knowing what we need to do were enough, we would all be doing, being, or having all that we most desire already, wouldn’t we? If struggle were the secret wouldn’t we all have exactly what we want by now?
Ready to do things differently?
Comfortable in Your Own Skin Coaching Challenge:
1. Find a quiet, sacred spot where you can just be present for a short time and take a few deep breaths. Allow yourself to land in this spot.
2. Make a list of one or two things that you most want for yourself. Those things you just know would make a huge difference in your life or business.
3. Now, make a list of the excuses you tell yourself why you cannot do, be or have these things. List them all, no matter how silly they seem (even the silliest have a huge impact).
4. Read over this list, get friendly with your excuses, and then ask them (your excuses) "Do I really want you to be deciding my present and future reality?"
