The Biggest Lie

The biggest lie we tell ourselves is that we are too busy. We love this excuse. It’s our out when our doubt and laziness want to control our lives.

The excuse is conveniently made whenever we feel challenged by what we want to accomplish. Losing weight. Sticking to a budget. Advancing our career or finding a better place to work. Volunteering for a cause we believe in. Simply stating “I’m too busy” is an easy out.

I’m too busy to go to the gym, or walk a mile in the neighborhood before work.
I’m too busy to cook from scratch meals that are more inexpensive and healthier.
I’m too busy to take that online course, attend that seminar or work on my resume.

When simply saying “I’m too busy” doesn’t cut it, we like to throw in some qualifiers.

I works a lot of hours.
I have two kids in sports.
I have a long commute.
My wife works.

You know who else faces the above daily? Successful people who are achieving more than you or I. People who don’t use life in general as an excuse to not do more with their lives. People who live life with focus and determination.

If we want to joins those people, we need to break the cycle of looking for excuses to continue to be unsuccessful, and put forth a plan to achieve our goals and succeed. We need to get on the path, and make sure to stay on the path.

We need to figure out where we want to go.
We need to set achievable goals that will get us there.
We need to break down those goals into task and start completing them.
We need to find the time for those tasks in order to complete them.

Finding the time is the where the rubber meets the road, and where we start putting up our own obstacles to prevent us from leaving our comfort zones to venture on the path to better. We humans have an inherited fear of change. Even if we don’t like where we are, we don’t want to move on out of fear things would be worse. So we stick with “the devil we know” out of fear of a devil we don’t even know if it’s real, but fear it will be worse.

The unknown is not the only thing we fear. We also fear failing. We don’t want to be rejected from the better opportunity. We don’t want to try to lose weight, only to remain out of shape after weeks of starving ourselves. Or still be broke at the end of the month, even though we had a plan with our money.

Put that fear in its place, and start finding the time that is there, but your fears of the unknown or of failure are keeping you from using to your advantage. A great way to find the time is to spend some time tracking where your time goes.

My challenge to you is log your “free time” on a piece of paper for at least one week. Be honest with yourself. Write down how much time you spend with your kids, eating out, cooking at home, running errands, watching TV, working out, surfing the web or scrolling though social media. Chances are, you will not be happy with the results. Although it might spark something in you to get better with your time management. I might give you the motivation to stop telling yourself and others the biggest lie.

Book Review: Death by Meeting | Patrick Lencioni

I've read most of Lencioni's books and own several. I recently started to make a point to re-read them on a regular basis. Most of his books are written as a "business fable" that covers the topic of his book, with a detailed overview at the end of his principals detailed in the book and suggestions on how to implement them at your work.

I recently finished re-reading Death by Meeting. Which is well needed since the meetings at where I work are starting to get out of control. I constantly hear and occasionally say something along the lines, with a heavy sigh, "great, another meeting. Wish I didn't have so many meetings so I can get some work done."

Even though most professionals know that work is done in meetings and that they are a critical part of work. Yet too often not much is accomplished during the meetings.

This books tackles how to get the most out of meetings and offers some good advice on how you and your company conducts meetings. The "fable" portion of the book is well written. It is entertaining and the story has characters and events that will remind you of related situations and interactions you've had.

Even though I'm not in a position with the company where I can dictate how meeting are held across the company, or even in my department; I can control how I interact with others in meetings and how I conduct the meetings I arrange. I've found the information in this book a great tool to help get the most out of meetings.




If the above book interest you, please consider following the link to order from Amazon. Purchasing through the above affiliate links will help me grow this blog, while adding no additional cost to you.

Being on the Right Track is Not Enough

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." Will Rogers

I've always admired the wit of Will Rogers. His commentary on politics and life in general are just as true today as they were a hundred years ago. The above quote is a great commentary on many of us that are on the path to better.

We can plan all we want. We can set goals, read books, think about what we want all day long. But if we don't put theory into practice, we'll stay in the same place. As you sit in the same place, your goals will fade back into dreams. Others will pass you by and you'll be in the same place thinking about "someday."

None of us can get in life where we want to go, unless we make purposeful movement in the direction we want to go. We need to visualize where we want to go, realize where we are, then move with purpose in that direction.

Being on the right track is merely the start. Putting forth the effort to more with purpose in the direction you want to go. Because even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

To Grow, You Need to Work

"All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work."
- Calvin Coolidge

The above quote is the truth. If you want to grow, you need to put for the effort. Things don't just fall in place on their own. You need to be in the right place ready for the things to land. Basically, you need to hustle and be purposeful with your hustle.

I think that's the tricky little point that trips up and derails creative people. The have dreams, goals and the drive to accomplish them, but don't have the focus to put that drive and ambition where it needs to be. Instead, they spread themselves too thin bay doing anything and everything all at once.

Working hard to grow it how thing get done and improvement happens. Working hard with laser precision focus is how you grow faster, bigger and more importantly sustained.