What are your excuses?
We all have excuses. You’ve heard the saying “You either find a way or find an excuse.” If you haven’t heard it yet, now you have. I agree with it too. You pick to do or not do things based on your priorities and excuses. Do you agree? Lets take a closer look into the excuse vs. finding a way theory.
Find a way based on priority:
-Pick up your kids at school by a certain time.
-In a car accident and must go to the emergency room
-Go to the bathroom
-Eat a meal
-Get to work on time
-Take you or you family member to the doctor when ill
-Pay your phone bill
-Attend a party/wedding/event you really want to attend
-Leave work early
-Take a shower/bath
Find an excuse:
-Work out
-Eat healthy
-Go to a party/wedding/event you really don’t feel like attending
-Do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable (make a call, show up for a meeting, ask your boss for a raise)
-Asked to stay late for work
What else would you add to this list?
Why am I talking about this today? It is MONDAY.
Monday is the king of all excuse days. You know I’m right. I know what you did. You left work Friday excited for the weekend. I didn’t matter if you have kids or not. You busted out of the doors ready to go and be on your own schedule. You wanted to go out to eat for dinner or you had plans on Saturday with friends or family. You spent the day Sunday relaxing and taking your day of rest.
HERE COMES MONDAY. You have to get back into the groove. Back to the grind. You slept in late from your relaxing or exhausting weekend. You must take Monday off too because you are tired. You didn’t work out. You forgot to pack your lunch or you didn’t have time. You eat a sandwich or something that makes you want to take a nap at your desk so you can bolt at 5pm. You head to the vending machine around 3:30 to get a snack and maybe even coffee to wake you up. 5pm arrives and you bolt to get to your car and sit in traffic. You are way too tired to cook dinner and you “forgot” to defrost anything so you have to order in or go out to eat. You don’t have time to cook because you have cub scouts and other things going on. You don’t have time to work out because you are so busy.
Are you setting up TUESDAY for success? When do you start to plan? When is it a priority to prep your meals? When is it a priority to wake up early and get in your work out? You already know yourself. You will NEVER work out after work. You must do it first before the excuses set in.
We hosted a sleep over this weekend. We had 8 third grade boys in our house. They were funny, loud, and exhausting. We spent the day Sunday cleaning up and napping. Monday morning was tough. Still tired and I wanted to make excuses. I wanted to crawl back into bed. I didn’t. What did we do? We know that working out is important to our health and our goals. We picked a workout and pressed play. We did it. I’m still tired but now I have my work out complete. I don’t feel guilty. I don’t feel like I have to make up excuses the rest of the day to avoid the real reason why I didn’t work out. I was lazy and didn’t put it as a priority.
Top 5 Ways to Avoid Excuses:
1) Schedule it: Know you are working out in the morning and at what time. Don’t just try to fit it in when you have time. Make time. Period.
2) Honor your schedule: Emergencies are rare. Most people do not have ER visits, flat tires, or other emergencies on daily basis. If what someone else is asking of you conflicts with your schedule you simply tell them you cannot make it and offer other times.
3) Be flexible but don’t too flexible: I have a work out time frame. I know I must wake up by a certain time to make it happen. If I don’t wake up to make it happen then I either shorten my work out or pick a different one that fits in that time frame. If I’m volunteering for something at school and it is only 1 day of the week then I will alter my schedule to accommodate it. But I will not volunteer for everything they ask of me. I want to honor my schedule first and not be the martyr of everyone else’s needs.
4) Revisit your goals often: What is important to you? Is an extra 30 minutes of sleep going to get you to your goals? Is ordering pizza and “relaxing” going to get you to your goals? Is reading that magazine instead of personal development going to get you to your goals?
5) Plan for excuses and have excuse deflectors ready: You know you are going to be tired on Monday. Plan for it. If this is your normal excuse to not show up for things on Monday because you are tired then be aware and work on it now. Get your clothes ready for the morning. Set your alarm earlier to allow more time to wake yourself up. Pack your lunch the night before.
Are you making excuses or are you finding a way? It is up to you!