Y’all know that Coach Wayne loves every one of you, and I prefer to stay up-beat and positive, but sometimes I’ve got to bring the “tough love” because we all need to hear it every once in a while. Well, today’s lesson is on EXCUSES. I hate excuses!! I’m sure you hate excuses too (when it’s someone else giving you an excuse). We live in a culture where making excuses is a way of life, and it drives me crazy! No one wants to OWN IT when they mess up. They want to blame it on everyone but themselves. And they never succeed at anything because they convince themselves they are a victim of their circumstances instead of realizing they can overcome their circumstances!
Do you hear excuses all the time? I do! I hear them all the time — from my kids for why they didn’t pick up after themselves or clear their spot after dinner or get their homework done or put away their clothes …. from my patients for why they didn’t brush their teeth or wear their rubber bands or why they knocked their braces loose or why they were late to their appointment (yeah, for those of you who didn’t know, I’m the best orthodontist in Tulsa haha!) …. and YES, I even hear it from YOU GUYS, for why you can’t fit the workouts into your busy schedule or why you can’t afford to eat healthy or why you can’t afford to take the supplements that will maximize your results or why you can’t commit to the diet …. I hate excuses! If you’ve got a list of excuses, you don’t OWN your failures. Your failures are someone else’s fault, and thus you are powerless to change the outcome! What a sad state of affairs!
Guess what!?! We can ALL make excuses. We ALL have obstacles, whether it be time or money or whatever else. But hear me on this — SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DON’T MAKE EXCUSES. If you want to be successful, you simply have to refuse to make excuses. You either succeed, or you fail, but when you fail you OWN IT! You don’t make an excuse. You take the responsibility for the setback and evaluate how you can get a different outcome next time. That way, you will learn from it and not repeat the same failure. If you rationalize your failures by making an excuse (thus shifting the responsibility away from you), then you are doomed to repeat that failure.
Why are people in debt? Is it because they simply don’t make enough money to buy the necessities, or is it because they impulse buy and don’t budget their money or stick to a plan?
Why are people late everywhere they go? Is it the traffic’s fault, or is it because they don’t build in the slightest bit of margin in their schedule?
Why are people fat, out of shape, and lazy? Is it because they don’t have time to workout, or is it because they don’t want to give up their favorite TV shows every night and exert the willpower to say no to that bowl of chips or ice cream?
Okay, you get my point! I’m starting to rant, aren’t I!!??
Let’s look at an obstacle I’ve faced many times in the 6 months I’ve been doing P90X/Insanity. If my kids keep me up all night (and I have 5 under the age of 9, so this happens often!), I have 3 choices:
- 1) Sleep in. I can’t be expected to work out on 1 hour sleep. It’s the kids fault that I miss the workout.
- 2) Sleep in. I choose not to follow through on my commitment to workout, and I have no one to blame but myself.
- 3) Get up and workout anyway.
I’ve always done #3, even though many times I was working out on 1 hour of sleep and then going to work all day. Was it fun? NO! But it is why I’ve become a success story! But had I chose to sleep in, would I have gone with #1 or #2? #2 is a person who will at least learn from the setback and probably choose #3 the next time. The person who goes with #1 (making excuses and blaming others) will repeat that setback time and time again, because they are powerless to overcome it. Their success is at the mercy of their kids’ sleep schedule! LOL!
What excuses are you making? Time? Money? Stress? Set your goals and don’t let ANYTHING stop you. Decide what you plan to accomplish and OWN THE RESULTS. When you succeed, celebrate! When you fail, own it and plan for how you will avoid failure next time. But don’t blame others. You’ll be the one standing at the finish line. The folks with all the good excuses will be AWOL!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
