25 Mar 11 excuses killing your happiness – here’s what to do
As I write/post this, we’re all muddling our way through the CoronaVirus Crisis; an unprecedented situation understandably causing massive distress and anxiety.
But that being said, it’s more important than ever to find a way to create and experience positive emotions like happiness. Happiness enhances health and wellbeing and protects against illness. Happiness connects us to others and increases our chances of engaging in positive behaviours. So as hard as it might seem, now’s not the time for excuses. Do what you can with whatever you have to find some joy and happiness…
via the Ladders by Christopher D Connors
When I was single, working in a stressful consulting job and partying my 20s away, it seemed like I always had time for a distraction. Drinks with friends on a Tuesday night? Of course, why not? Sleeping in on the weekends and avoiding personal growth? You betcha.
As the years went by and I further put off my future, I became less and less happy. I wasn’t growing. I was stuck in neutral, with the hangovers to prove it. If you could go back to that period in time, I know the people that cared about me most would tell you that I was chock full of excuses. They told me as much.Settle in and save with FoxtelAd by Foxtel See More
I didn’t apply myself. Maybe you’ve been there, too. I finally got to a point where I realised I wasn’t doing things that I loved. I wasn’t inspired or motivated to change. There was no pain or discomfort — which seemed good at the time but was actually stunting my growth.
My biggest moment of reckoning came when I decided to plot out my life goals. I backed those with habits that helped me make progress. But perhaps the biggest mindset and behavioural shift that I made was eliminating B.S. excuses that were holding me back.
They were preventing me from being happy. I’m here to share 11 of these with you now:
Excuse #1: ‘I don’t have time.’
Make time. If you’re not making the time, then you’re not creating a plan for doing what you want.
Start small. Look at your week. Ask yourself if you can spare two hours. You can break that out in 20-minute increments over six days, while still taking one day off. 20 minutes per day to build toward your dream? That is exponentially better than no time at all.
Use apps like Todoist, Loop and Focus Booster to help you manage your time better. Maybe you have children, a demanding job, a tough commute, a busy social life, multiple projects to juggle. It doesn’t matter. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
When you take a high-level view of your week and begin to drill-down to each day, you realize you can cut out time-wasters like watching TV, surfing the web on your smartphone and texting with your friends.
You do have time.
Excuse #2: ‘I can’t do this on my own.’
We all need help to reach our biggest goals and dreams, but so much of getting started begins with you. You can’t blame others when you’re unwilling to define some of the basic fundamentals of your life:
- Values
- Definition of Success
- Success Measures
- Goals
- Key Outputs
Start with your values. I believe in this so much, I wrote a book about choosing and living our life by core values. Both the work of defining my values and writing the book completely changed my life and helped me prioritize what truly matters most to me.
If you start by doing these things, then earnestly working to achieve what you desire, you’ll find that along the way you get the help you need.
Excuse #3: ‘I don’t know how to do it.’
Please, stop what you’re doing. Go to Google and enter in the search box exactly what you’re looking to do in the following way: ‘How to x’. Find the best articles and links. I guarantee you that somebody before you has already figured out a way to successfully perform what you want to do. Learn from them.
Excuse #4: ‘I keep making the same mistakes.’
So implement a system where you track your mistakes in a digital notebook or planner. Look at these each day to get you inspired in the morning. Mistakes aren’t meant to doom you. We all make mistakes — that’s how we grow.
For example, if your mistake is forgetting to send out a report at work, put a reminder in your Outlook, Evernote or other tools to remind you to do this throughout your week…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE