By Amanda Mittleman M.S.
It’s November and 2019 is coming to an end! This year has flown by and so will all of the years to come. I find myself saying, “I can’t believe it’s already November,” like it’s a surprise. I already knew this year would fly by because all of the previous years have flown by…Duh!
That said, let’s face it, time moves fast, we don’t get today back, so let’s lean in to our lives and make great stuff happen in our lives!
I’ve been helping people learn to move better, lose fat, gain strength and create their most extraordinary lives for over 20 years. This might strike a nerve with some of you but it’s ABSOLUTELY true; I can tell whether or not someone is going to reach their goals or not (with about 99% accuracy) by one single factor, their language.
The words people say to me are a reflection of what they are telling themselves. The words we say to ourselves determine the quality of our lives. Progress is a basic human need and therefore the quality of our lives depends on growth and progress in our lives. Growth happens when we believe it’s possible and that means what we tell ourselves every single day will determine our happiness and success in life.
THE FINE PRINT
When I use the word “success,” I mean people who are truly happy despite any possible uncontrollable circumstances in their lives. I mean people who are content with their lives and yet they still set and achieve new goals. I mean people who are prosperous in love, their health, their mindset and spirit, and financially as well. However, financial prosperity is not necessary for happiness and success. In fact, repeated studies have found that money is very low on the list of factors that make us happy, which is the ultimate determinant of success. We ALL know happy people who have financial prosperity and who are still unfulfilled and very unhappy. We also know people with a lot of financial prosperity who are also very happy and continuously growing.
Excuses Kill Success
Excuses poison your success. Excuses are tricky. Excuses can deceive you into an unfulfilled life. How many times have you tried to lose weight or gain strength, start an exercise program, only to find yourself a year later in the same spot you started at or worse, even further behind. I have done this, so I understand and this is why I am passionate about killing excuses on the spot.
Excuses are like poisoned chocolate covered strawberries! (I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries!) They look delicious and innocent. They taste great. They make you feel good when you eat them. But once they are in your system, the poison begins slowly killing you. Too dramatic? I think not.
A hospice nurse named Bronnie Ware wrote a very impactful book called, The Five Top Regrets of The Dying. The book was a result from a blog she wrote on this topic that received so much attention she expanded upon the wisdom. Ware kept hearing the same regrets from her patients who as they neared the end of their lives shared both their regrets and joys with their families and the hospice nurses who cared for them.
What would your life look like without excuses? What if you decided that you were going to transform your diet to lost fat and kept it off, exercise five days a week no matter what, write that book, start that business or achieve that goal that you’ve been talking about for 10 years or more?
I get it! Most excuses make absolute sense. Excuses are tricky. They make sense, while your dreams don’t always make sense. But achieving goals and dreams feels AWESOME because they require struggle, growth; letting go of old parts of ourselves that no longer serve us. It feels incredible to make it through struggle, grow and achieve what you once thought was not possible. THAT’S WHAT MAKES THEM GOALS AND BIG DREAMS.
Do you REALLY want “sensible and predictable” over EXTRAORDIANRY and fulfilling?
There are two constants in life, change and pain. You can’t escape difficult times so why not lean into the challenges that make you grow and lead you to your big dreams?
It may seem impossible to transform your body and your mind. Most dreams come with unpredictability, struggle and feel impossible to achieve. But, I bet you can name people that you know who have already achieved the same dreams you have. So why can’t you do it too?
Next time you take a step toward a goal and you back down because you have a very good excuse like, taking care of a friend or your knee hurts or your just too tired, I want you to picture your last days on Earth. What will you regret?
Will you regret living your life wondering if you could have lost that 25 or 100 pounds or started that business? The biggest fear behind excuses is fear of failing. Wouldn’t you rather fail and get up and try again until you succeed or never try?
Know what we all know, we ALL fail, but when we get up and try again and succeed, nothing feels better! True failure is not getting back up and not trying. Don’t let your fear, in the form of excuses, keep you from your BIG, EXTRAORDINARY LIFE!
NO EXCUSE NOVEMBER! Let’s do this together Mo-Tribe! What are the excuses that are holding you back? Here’s mine, I have been writing a book for 4 years. Two weekends ago, I signed up for a workshop to get my MOMENTUM BACK, so I can finish my book. For No Excuse November I am giving up my excuses (“I’m too busy.”) that are keeping me from finishing my book!
What excuses are you giving up?
