The No Excuses Project: Travel is essential

While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, travel is a critical part of staying creative; not only to bring in new experiences but to see the old with fresh eyes. So when I say travel is essential it’s with that perspective, not just a need for regular vacations.

It’s also perilously vulnerable to excuses – time and money being critical components in disrupting the everyday routine.  Goals around travel and seeing foreign cultures are common but achieving them is not.  So what am I going to do about it for myself? The  goal here is to eliminate excuses, not common sense which means getting creative and persistent in keeping travel as a critical element of a life well lived.

The first part of the solution is simply research, on a regular basis (once a week) how to travel more affordably, ways to get paid to travel, and so on.

The second part is to set aside money and time – a little bit of the first on a regular basis and block out the available vacation way in advance of even figuring out where to go – that way the excuses begin to crumble.

Lastly, is simply making the commitment to take those trips every year, whether they are nearby or across the globe – letting it slide is not one of the options.

Next week: Being more consistent with medical check-ups

• Holding myself accountable

• Garden: thanks to all the rain recently, I’m still on track (without having had to do very much of anything)
• Chores: still working out the kinks but fewer excuses to put things off
• Treasure hunting: no activity but no excuses either
• Losing weight: took the next step in revising the diet, still behind on exercise
• Jewelry: was productive in refining techniques and making new pieces
• Photography: definitely the victim of time and excuses this week and will be working on that
• Family and friends: doing well
• Romantic relationship: making progress

Technorati Tags: balance, no excuses, traveling solo

The No Excuses Project: Phase 2

So if you’ve recently found this project or been following along from the beginning you will have noticed the theme of one excuse per week. Yes, that probably could continue to run endlessly but my goal was to make this only a year long project!  So we started with my 26 most common and limiting excuses which wrapped up last week.  Now comes the really hard part of 26 weeks of  looking at goals and where those excuses come into play and whether there are still any lingering remnants (I’m pretty sure there are…)  Since I only have myself to analyze we’ll be using my goals and knowledge of when I call in the excuses but hopefully you will also find something to relate to.

In general here’s how my life breaks out into areas where I would like to make improvements or more progress.  That should work out to about two weeks per topic and we’ll just see how it goes. I hope you’ll be a part of it!

• Career
  • Jewelry
  • Photography
  • Writing
• Relationships
  • Family and friends
  • Significant other
• Health
  • Losing weight
  • Getting in shape
  • Checkups
• Environment
  • Home improvement
  • Garden
  • Chores
• Personal growth
  • Travel
  • Treasure hunting

Next week: The goal of photography and what’s standing in the way

Technorati Tags: achieving goals, no excuses

The No Excuses Project: ‘I’ll compromise because I’m not confident enough to fully commit’

This past week’s excuse is one that I’m more guilty of than most, which is why it’s so awkwardly worded.  I once got stuck getting on an escalator in London (they move faster over there!) with a suitcase so that I was hopping on the escalator with one foot and the other was still on the platform.  I couldn’t get any leverage over my balance to either get both feet on or off the escalator.  A passing gallant gentleman had to rescue me by pulling me back.  I find myself doing that metaphorically in risky projects; compromising on how many or what risks I take so that I end up making an effort but not any progress.

I have seen it in others who have convinced themselves that they have to double their salary with their after work endeavors before they can justify leaving their day job. Most everyone that has made that leap had to go downhill on the income before they could head up the other hill.  The problem is nobody can say when the time is right for you, and most of us can’t see it for ourselves either.

I think the only preventative measure for this kind of excusing behavior is just to be aware of it.  Ask yourself if you are holding back so that it will be safe to turn back or if you are being taking enough smart risks.  Where are you with that big goal? If you can turn back to life exactly as you left it before you started than you probably haven’t given it enough of yourself.  Failure does happen as do unmet expectations but if you’ve really pursued the goal with everything you have these tend to manifest as something new and different in your life, not a return to something even more disappointing.

Next week: ‘I don’t have any experience’

Technorati Tags: common excuses, no excuses, taking risks

The No Excuses Project: “I have too many other projects”

I have always ended up regretting using this excuse. At the time I never see it as an excuse; I think I’m being prudent or attempting to be realistic about what I tackle. The phrase ‘too many other projects’ often emerges in conjunction with another excuse such as ‘too tired’, ‘it will cost too much’ etc. so sometimes there a few layers that have to be peeled away. But when I finally give in, I’m inevitably hitting my forehead and wondering why the heck I didn’t just dive in the first time. For example, last Fall I postponed buying the equipment I needed for beach-glass jewelry, because “I had too many other projects.” I figured that I would experiment with wire wrapping the glass instead until I got a few other things out of the way. And then I realized that wasn’t going to work at all and that people were interested in seeing the soldered style. Now that I’m producing my own style, people are stopping and saying they’ve never seen it done that way and they seem to like it.

That said, it is possible to take on too much and then not give any of them your best. I think the trick there is to evaluate and take away the things that are not truly what you want to pursue. Maybe you think it would be prestigious to be a published author but if the rest of the world (the audience) disappeared you would stop it immediately. That’s usually a sign that your motivation isn’t coming from the right place. Most people that are truly living their passion would dance, sing, write, or do chemistry experiments solo on a desert island.

I haven’t rid myself of this excuse entirely, but I’m getting better just because I’ve had so many recent examples where I took the wrong path. There weren’t dire consequences but I ended up back at the same point every time. I remind myself of that when I feel the excuse coming on and then see if there isn’t something else that should be subtracted instead.

Next week: “It’s too big”

Technorati Tags: common excuses, no excuses

The No Excuses Project: I’m too tired

For those of us that analyze things six ways to Sunday before taking any action, this is a common excuse – not to get out of doing the work but because we’ve already worn ourselves out with thinking instead of doing.

And yet it is also true that when presented with something purely fun requiring no planning or pass/fail grades we find ourselves suddenly revived. So tiredness isn’t really the issue.

I certainly have felt too hot and too tired this week and yet my purpose in extended my stay was to get specific things done.  My effective strategy so far is simply to take a short break and then get up and do just one more thing. No great insight there but it does mean progress gets made even if everything doesn’t get completed as envisioned. Not using the excuse doesn’t mean turning yourself into a superhero either. I think that’s where the whole ‘have it all’ failed – there are still only 24 hours in a day and some of them are needed for sleep.  When big tasks present themselves, other things need to be modified.  I had two rooms of files and stuff to sort out this week so I cut back on the blogging to every other day. I could have said I was too tired for even that much. Instead I took a little bit of time out for this and still managed to manage the other tasks.  I will have to watch where it creeps up when I’m back on my regular schedule and there’s something interesting on TV!

Next week’s excuse is tbd, I should be back home tomorrow and will pick one out then…

Technorati Tags: lack of motivation, motivating yourself, no excuses

The beginning of the No Excuses project

I’ve been used to thinking of excuses as something offered to someone else, usually with the intent of escaping something you’d rather not do e.g. I’m too tired to do the dishes or the all-time classic, the dog ate my homework.  In adulthood I’ve been more accustomed to thinking of them as lies for the same purpose; a former friend was always either late or a no-show to agreed arrangements because of having to pick up the dry cleaning. Since she wore jeans to work, it wasn’t all that plausible as often as she used it.  I’ve always made an effort to be honest with others, but somehow overlooked being just as honest with myself.

I finished up reading Wayne Dyer’s Excuses Begone! last week and am starting to face how good I am at excuses. These are the ones that you use against yourself to keep safe and keep the status quo even when you don’t want it. From ‘I can’t afford it’ to ‘It’s never happened successfully before’ I’ve used almost all of them and they’ve been holding me back from what I want in my life. It’s time to stop.

As I’ve been thinking about what kind of year-long project would be significant for me and interesting to write about, I’ve been drawing something of a blank except for wondering if there was something I could do where I could emerge as a latin dancer at the end of it (fantasy more than true desire on that one!)  I think this is it – a year without excuses. No saying ‘I can’t afford it’ but not running up the credit card either; instead finding a way to make it happen. It’s not quite as delicious as the Julia Child project but it feels much more critical for where and who I am.  So here goes – no more excuses, not even the one about how it would be nice to wait until I’ve got this figured out as to how I’m going to do it and wouldn’t it be better to wait for the first of the month or something that is a clearer starting point.  Yesterday was the anniversary of the moon landing so maybe that’s significant enough…

Technorati Tags: living your dreams, no excuses, year-long projects