Excuse Killers: Quotes

Fair warning: killing your excuses might just piss you off.

Ah, quotes. These pithy, to-the-point little phrases can do two things: in my head, they flood me with inspiration, in my gut, they can also piss me off.
Now it might be obvious about the inspiration in my head. But let’s get to the juicy second point.

They don't piss me off in a bad way. Rather, they point out the truth to me in a way that I cannot deny the truth or needed action. An action I’ve been saying I want to take, but I'm not prioritizing it, I'm not executing or implementing.  
An action that, for whatever reason, I am stalling on taking.

So there's a bit of an internal tantrum that happens when I see a quote that activates me to move. And I think, for me, there's a confrontational element and there's also a bit of pain in experiencing an excuse that is dying.

As in, “Dangit! I can’t use that one anymore! I can’t unsee, unknown or deny it.”
With a really good quote, like this one, there is no arguing with its wisdom. It gives a direct hit to “my shields.”
And so the excuse or excuses, that I've been using to block my own progress takes a hit and begins to die.

And the pain, mentioned above, will frequently show up as irritation. There’s a truth that's really inside this quippy little phrase that tears off my excuse bandage and opens.
So let's get an example, instead of this being just a fluffy little chat.

Blogging
My blogging.
Nobody else's.
I'm not going to tell you that you have to do anything right now I am going to talk about how I have been working beautifully to build other businesses blogs and website updates for 4 years now and have struggled with building my own.
I've started and then pooped out.  It’s been a genuine struggle for me to get into my own groove about building my own business with the knowledge and skills I have in the “webisphere”.

Harnessing my knowledge and skills, and taking the time (!), to produce work on my own behalf is the ultimate task for me. Two of the three companies that I ghost blog for have reached page 1 Google search results due to the work I've been doing, which is amazing for them. It’s brilliant! It’s what I’ve wanted for them...and what they hired me for too.
And.
I want to do that for myself as well.
So, it’s time I take this quote from Ms. Earhart to my heart.
30 minutes in… here’s what I’ve found:

The helpful and hopeful words
The worst part is the anticipation and dealing with yourself for the first 5 minutes inside of this task that you've been tonight.
The sooner you can get into action and stomach an initial few minutes of discomfort, confusion or whatever the feelings are, you're on your way.  The dread feelings of irritation,fear or anxiety. The catastrophizing and dooming thoughts are no longer your main focus. They quiet down after a few minutes.

You're in the task and doing what you said you wanted to do. So there's not only an alignment with your integrity, there's also some effectiveness in getting some small, halting, messy steps taken.
After the first 50-100 words of this blog post, I was no longer struggling. I was writing and editing. I was “in it”.
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Ready to plant some seeds?
There comes a point where you just have to get into action.
If you want the yield, the crop, the harvest, you have to plant the seeds.
This is not only true of blogging for me, it's also true of writing a book so far as well.
For whatever task or thing you’ve been stalling on yourself. Isn’t it?
When I’m all talk and no substantiating action, I get really frustrated with myself. That was the point I was at when I started this post earlier today.

That's exactly what this exercise is today. A bit of time and effort toward fulfillment, satisfaction and integrity. Doing what I’ve said I’ve wanted to do for years.

These words, for me, are more than a blog post. It may appear as just a blog post to you.
But no, it’s more. This has also been an exercise. A struggle. A dread. A “don’t make me”.

It was a struggle for me to even open the doc and get going.
The first 5 minutes? Awful.
But then the momentum and interest kicked in.

In fact, I'll tell you right now, I've already won the day by showing up, getting the words down, and sharing just a little bit about what I do, how I do it, why I do it in hopes that it may help you.

How will you win your day? Today!
What can you no longer deny? What have you been talking about? What is it you’ve been saying you want to do? Are you willing to take a scary exciting small step toward satisfaction and fulfillment today?

It’s okay if you’re not ready or willing. Having the awareness is plenty.
It’s also okay if you are ready and willing.
Wishing you well and wondering what you’re up to.