All Your Excuses are Lies

It’s been far too long since you have heard from us – a full 6 months to be exact. Those months have been filled with so much living and so many experiences that it will take many posts simply to catch up. Actually, I have a whole backlogged list of posts from the past 11 months that are just waiting to be written.

Instead, today I am sharing this: a post about just one of the learning lessons that this time has brought me.

*SPOILER ALERT: This post is not about travel, it is not about RV life, it is not about the sights we have seen or the people we have met. This post is about excuses. (pauses for the mass exodus of those who were just here for pretty photos or restaurant recommendations)

Still with me? Good! Today I am sharing something real and meaningful, something that has the ability to radically change the way you look at your life and that can impact your success in life if you let it.

Would you like to be more successful, more wealthy, more in shape, more creative, more motivated, more inspired, more productive? Of course you would!

So what is holding you back?

Let’s shift that bright, uncomfortable spotlight off of you for a moment and instead put ME in the proverbial hot seat. What has been holding ME back from building this blog, from staying on top of updating our Instagram account, from more rapidly expanding my freelance writing business over the past year?

Ask me that question and off the top of my head, I could give you a whole list of reasons (some very convincing and others less so) why I was simply unable to accomplish these things. You would listen to them, and maybe even buy in to them.

Of COURSE I was too busy, too tired, too rushed, didn’t have the proper equipment, was surrounded by retired people who just wanted to relax and party, needed to catch up on watching Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 (okay, maybe that last reason is NOT so convincing).

But here’s the point…all of those “reasons” aren’t really reasons. They are a way for me to justify why I choose to prioritize something else over doing these 3 things that I said I would do. Every time I did something other than blogging, updating our Instagram, or building my business, I was choosing a different priority and then coming up with an explanation for why I did so.

Are you ready to hear something that will blow your mind? Something that you may not want to believe but that has the power to change the way you view yourself and your decisions in life?

Meet Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL commander, author, and host of the Jocko Podcast where he shares the life lessons that he lives by and that have gotten him to where he is today.

You want to know what Jocko would say about my reasons for not doing what I set out to do? He would call them what they are – excuses.

And then he would share this controversial, revolutionary sentence that sticks with you once you hear it and resonates in your mind when you try to avoid it.

Are you ready?

“All Your Excuses are Lies.”

Did you get that? All of your excuses are lies. But what about the being busy and rushed, you say? I was traveling around the country non-stop for months, sometimes spending only one night in each location. When could I possibly have found the time?

LIES. How many hours of movies did I watch in those months?

I was too tired. Surely that makes sense.

LIES. How many hours did I stay up reading click bait stories when I could have been sleeping or writing a blog post?

I didn’t have the proper equipment.

LIES. Yes, both my laptops are on their last legs, but how often did I try using my husband’s laptop after he went to bed? What about his netbook?

I was surrounded by retired people who just wanted to relax and party.

LIES. Regardless of who I am around and where they are at in their lives, what I choose to do with my life and my time is always my own responsibility. Well meaning as it may be, when those who have already made their mark, and left their legacy entice me to slow down, to stop pushing, to take the easy road of relaxation, it is on ME to respectfully stay my course and achieve my goals.

Do you see how this works? It is hard and uncomfortable. It is so much easier to tell ourselves that factors outside our control caused our failures and our lack of achievement. We play the blame game and convince ourselves that we are the victims, that it is not our fault, but where does that leave us? What good does it do?

You may ask, “How do I break that cycle? How do I make it stop?”

Jocko says,

“It Doesn’t Stop if You Don’t Make it Stop. Recognize. Recognize that the Excuses are not Valid…They are LIES.”

How do you defeat the lies?

“Don’t Believe the Lies. Believe the Truth.

Cast out the Lies. Burn them Down and Listen to the Truth and Live the Truth and Go Out and GET IT DONE!”

Ready to go tackle something important that you have been procrastinating and making excuses for? Maybe its time to go do a workout or spend quality time with the person you love. Have you been avoiding cleaning your house or washing your car or writing a blog post?

Whatever it is, take 3-1/2 minutes to listen to Jocko remind you why All Your Excuses are Lies, and then stand up, take ownership, develop discipline and go do that which you have avoided.

Trust me (now that I have completed this blog post), you will feel better for having done it.