Excuses…

There is a saying that I heard once, a little crude, but 100% true: “Excuses are like ***holes, everyone has one and they all stink!”  I HATE EXCUSES!  I don’t care if its fitness related or what…I hate excuses!  To me excuses show a lack of commitment and a lock of personal responsibility.  If you say that something is important to you and it actually is, you will give that thing priority and an excuse has no place.

This week I had the opportunity to practice what I am preaching here.  Because of circumstances at my job, I had to work a few late nights and do some traveling.  Now staying up until 2am starring at a computer screen and waking up at 5:30am for P90X is not something I was excited about.  Neither was flying at 5am the next day, and being in meetings with customers until 10pm and doing P90X at 11pm.  I had plenty of chances to not workout and some pretty good excuses to back them up.  But I have prioritized my health, excuses have no place when success is the goal.  So yes, I worked out on 3 hours of sleep, and yes I worked out at the end of a 17 hour work day.

Since I began my fitness journey and people have seen the changes in me, it seems like people are compelled in conversation to tell me why they CANT work out every day or eat healthy all the time when the honest answer would be that they don’t WANT to work out every day or eat healthy.  When someone tells me that they have a goal, but aren’t taking the necessary action to achieve that goal, then they don’t truly want it.  If they did, they would prioritize those actions.  If you wanted to become a doctor, you would have to go through medical school…no short cuts.  If someone said they wanted to become a doctor and wasn’t willing to put in 8+ years of schooling and the money that it takes to complete the necessary education, I would say that person doesn’t really want to be a doctor.  This same concept applies to those who say they want to get in shape or get ripped.

IF YOU WONT DO THE WORK, YOU DON’T ACTUALLY WANT IT!!! Don’t tell me your goal is to get ripped, and then tell me you were too tired to work out that day!  Don’t tell me that your goal is to get ripped, but you just don’t have time to eat the right foods to get you there.  We all have different circumstances in life and we have to be prepared to deal with the obstacles presented to us, but the people who are successful in this world don’t make excuses!

Here is a list of excuses that I fight on a daily basis:

• Sometimes I work until 2am…I don’t want to wake up.
• I am potty training a toddler, so I wake up every night at 2:30am to take him to the bathroom…I don’t want to wake up.
• I want to sleep!  I do my workouts at 5:30am.

Did I mention that I want to sleep…lol.  But this will help you understand how I have plenty of opportunities to lose momentum and skip a workout and default to my excuse.  I want success though, so I choose to battle and take the difficult route to success and you can do it too!  I am not super-human by any measure, but I have committed myself to these workouts/diet and I have gotten great results!

So what is your excuse?  Is it time?  Is it money? Is it work?  Set a goal and don’t let ANYTHING get in the way of your success!  Decide now whether or not you are willing to do what it takes to get the results you want and go all out!  Looking back I will guarantee you won’t be saying, “man I wish I didn’t eat so healthy” or “working out every day sure was useless”.  You are going to be reaping the benefits of your hard work, and never questioning if your commitment was a good idea.  You can BRING IT…NOW COMMIT TO IT!