In a follow-up post to Big Picture Discipline… the lack of motivation is often bordered with a lovely, frilly little doily of… one excuse after another.

Now, I don’t have the market cornered on perfection or how to stop making excuses forever and ever, because lord knows, I don’t have that shit figured out.

I do, however, know how to make an excuse.

Excuse
In learning how to make an excuse, I have also learned (a lil bit about how) to STOP making excuses.

Because when you learn what the excuses are made of —you also learn how to stop freaking cooking them up.

You learn how to deconstruct the ones you have already made, like a weird Top Chef dish–hit that with some nitrogen, and rid it from your life.

I have learned is that discipline (having some… not even a ton, just some discipline) doesn’t leave much room for any excuses.

And having discipline doesn’t really leave you any extra time to cook them up either, because you’re too busy getting your stuff done…and handled… and not mixing ingredients that later will cause you to fail and hate yourself and fail again.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you’re busy kicking ass, you aren’t busy drowning yourself in the things that are standing precisely in your way.

IMG_9392[1]

Sure “LIFE” happens sometimes.  But here’s a question that I began to ask myself…

How much of LIFE is really in my way… or how much am I in my own way?

Also, there is an important distinction between excuses and reasons.

Things like sickness and injuries and job and travel and… and… and… fill in the blanks…  can certainly be reasons that are in our way to getting the workouts done or eating well.  Sure, there is always something.  A list like that–those are reasons, sure–to a degree.  Especially for a short period of time—to take care of what you need to do, to process whatever just happened, to heal etc.

But how long until a reason becomes  part of the recipe for an excuse?

That’s a highly personal question. But it’s one worth asking…

Can I bring my shoes and squeeze in a 20 minute run?  Can I jump rope for 4 minutes at the park with the kids?  Can I chug a big ole glass of water while dinner is cooking?  What can I do right now to help me with my goals–not matter how small…

And the list goes on and on…

excuses-quote-800x800

Excuses versus reasons?  The line, my friends, so very, very fine between the two. A very fine line.

You CAN do something. ALL the time. Something.

You can do something that is moving you forward… all the time.

You can stand up from your desk and stretch.  You can smile.  You can do something small for your health (sleep more), your nutrition (drink some damn water!), your hygiene (brush your teeth at 2:30pm and you’ll feel like a new person!)… do something constantly.  Let’s all do SOMETHING. Anything that moves us forward.

IMG_9405[1]

So what is keeping us from making progress towards our goals?

Is it us?  Are we just busy in our respective kitchens cooking up excuses?  Or have we realized what we want, and we are now spending time deconstructing those excuses–chiseling away at the ingredients for excuses??

I don’t know… I don’t have the answers, but I am working on all these things.

It’s not about perfection.  It’s about doing a little good each day for yourself.  Progress.  A little.  Discipline.  A little.  Kindness to yourself.  A little.

No more excuses. No more mixing up the ingredients either… that’s what I am working on.

#2016 #JustKeepMovingForwardshit-kickers

6 Responses

  1. This is truly amazing and SO what I needed to read. And will continue to re-read. I’ve not read anything that has hit me so hard and I felt as if it was truly directed towards me. THANK YOU!! As I’m reading your book and just did my first indoor triathlon last Sunday….my journey has just begun, and you are in my heart and mind as I plan, make goals and make it happen. You are an inspiration and hero to me. Keep up who you are and what you do…..you are a treasure to all lives and hearts you touch. Thank you!!!

  2. For me sometimes I create excuses out of FEAR, which stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. And that is when the fun begins. When I shine the light of knowledge on my fear I realize that I can overcome it. Like you said all it takes is doing something each and every day to keep moving forward in a positive direction. Thank you very much for this post, this is so awesome!!

  3. I truly appreciate your post but again the reason why you may only have two responses on this may go to your authenticity.

    Really?!? You gave up drinking, no program, just again advertising your nutrition program? Yeah.

    No program, yet you hashtag #onedayatatime that’s used in a program. Not your program, swimbikefuel, a real program for people who struggle everyday with the choice of alcohol. Somehow your have turned it once again into a marketing ploy.

    Please don’t minimize the struggle of so many out there by hashtagging your number “sober”, putting your thirty day “chip”‘and then saying, no you’re not following a program, and don’t have a problem, just following you’re useless swimbikefuel

    Promotion much?#?

    Take a real good look!!##

  4. You have said before that it is discipline not motivation. That is so true. I am often not motivated to do my workouts, but if I think of it as a discipline..just go because I have to, it is what I have planned and it is attached to my goals..I will go. It doesnt matter if I am motivated or not. In fact, once I am there I am fine and afterwards I feel great for going.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *