The world is riddled with people and their excuses. They always have a reason for something not going their way. I choose to take a different approach.
I believe that I own 100% of my outcomes. I either win or I lose because of my actions. Some might blame circumstances, but I don’t. I look at it as a learning experience.
“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”
Approaching life with this level of accountability is actually quite freeing.
But what about when things are out of my control???
Well, then I own my reaction to those outcomes.
You can’t change the cards you’re dealt, only how you play your hand.
Sure it’s easy to say that, but how should you practice this?
Well, one way is to change the meaning you attach to the situation.
When I was growing up, I got into a lot of trouble. Many of the friends I had as a kid are now in jail, in an institution or dead.
I got lucky that I had someone who believed in me.
His belief that I wasn’t a bad person helped me see that there was a different life out there for me.
Instead of continuing down that path, I decided to make a change. I decided not to blame my upbringing and say that it was hard to change. I decided to attach a meaning of “purpose” to my life.
I decided everything I had gone through was so that I could be in a better position to help others in the future. The meaning was purpose.
I started to believe – and continue to this day – that there’s a reason I was given a second chance, that my life should be dedicated to discovering that reason and to giving back as much as possible.
I made a commitment to always live life to the fullest and never settle. I wasn’t going to waste this chance.
That’s why I don’t believe in excuses.
You either do or you don’t. That’s all.
Take this post for example. I realized I forgot my laptop at my office and I wouldn’t have time to get it and blog before my deadline + get the kids ready for our scheduled road trip.
Great excuse not to blog, right? Nope. There is no excuse. If I didn’t blog then it’s my fault.
So instead of giving up, I thought… I’ve written emails on my iPhone, surely I could write a blog post!!!
Turns out there are a dozen apps that will let you post to wordpress.
So here I am, writing this blog on my iPhone because that’s what I committed to.
No excuses.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
