Just over a year ago, I wrote a short article for another site about making excuses. Now, it’s time to revise and expand on that article as the springboard from which I can launch this entire project.
Excuses. Much like opinions and assholes, everyone has them and, yes, they all stink.
Are there things you either need or want to do but you’ve never gotten around to them? Why not? Think really hard about why you don’t do the things you want or feel you need to. What do you do instead? Why did you make that decision? Why aren’t you more successful at ________ than you are now? Chances are good that what you think is a “reason” is just an excuse or justification.
Is it because you don’t have time? Of course you do. There are 168 hours in every week. Assuming you sleep 6-8 hours per night and work 45 hours a week (we’ll call it 50, including commute time and lunch breaks), that still leaves anywhere from 62-76 hours per week free to do whatever you want. If you don’t sleep much, you have even more time. You’re just doing something else with that time.
It’s the same thing with money. Chances are good that money is only an issue because you’re making a decision to do something else with it. I hear people frequently complaining about not having money to do something and then immediately following that with a discussion about a newly purchased $60 video game or buying the latest and greatest smartphone the day it comes out.
Time and money are resources that need to be managed. Putting those resources into something long term is difficult and not a lot of fun. We’ve gotten used to instant gratification; we want the world and we want it now. If that’s really what you want to do, that’s great. However, everything has a non-monetary cost associated with it, what economics classes refer to as “opportunity cost”. The opportunity cost for using your resources is not being able to use them to do something else. Before you throw down for the newest Apple iProduct, think about whether or not that is going to help you hit the goals you’ve set. Before you sit down to watch the two hour season premier of Singing Contest Show, is there something more productive you could be doing?
Something that I’ve gotten a lot of use from over the last few years is getting some perspective by taking an inventory every so often. Sometimes it’s hard. It sucks. At the same time, if you do it well, you’ll figure out really quickly how you can simplify things. Ask yourself the tough questions. See what barriers you’ve built to keep you from doing and being exactly what you want. I find that putting it all out in the open takes away a lot of its power.
Be brutally honest with yourself. I’m sure you don’t like when other people are dishonest, why should you allow yourself to be?
