Thursday, October 17, 2013

Don't buy your own excuses...

Here I sit... a little after midnight... I should be sleeping, but I had to get this out. Earlier this month, I celebrated another birthday. I am happy to see another year. Birthdays are always interesting to me because of the reflection time that I spend thinking about how the last 365 days were. Did I hit my goals? Did I inspire as many people as I planned to? Did I increase my wealth so that my daughters will be taken care of? Did I spend enough quality time with my family... etc., etc...

The main question I found myself asking myself was "Mel, did you buy your own excuses?" It was a tough question to ask, and an even tougher question so answer. In my college days, I joined a fraternity. We had a little saying about excuses that said "Excuses are tools of the incompetent that build monuments of nothingness. Those who specialize in them are seldom good for anything else." Just the thought of me buying my excuses as to why I had not done what I intended to do with the previous year of my life brought me to tears. Sensitive? Possibly. Over-reacting? Um... I don't think so. When I came to grips with who I am and what I am designed to do, I told myself that I cannot let anything get in the way of that... including myself.

Let me slow down for a minute and explain. I don't want you to think I am beating myself up. Just like I would not want you to beat yourself up. This is not about a pity party. This is about you living up to your FULL POTENTIAL. I had a great year. My first book as a solo author accomplished Amazon best-seller rankings in December. There were other things that went extremely well, but that was one of the major highlights. I won't bore you with the details of my life... let's get to the meat and potatoes of this post (although I'm a vegetarian).

Why is it that we don't do what we can or should be doing? I am listening to The Science of Personal Achievement by Napoleon Hill, and on this audio series he talks about how he met Andrew Carnegie and was commissioned to write what we know of as Think and Grow Rich. When Mr. Carnegie asked Napoleon Hill to go out and interview some of the most successful people in the world, he told him that he would have to do so with  no financial support what-so-ever from him. All Mr. Carnegie would do wold be to make the necessary introductions, and the rest was up to Mr. Hill. Mr. Carnegie wanted Napoleon Hill to document the "philosophy" of successful people. What was it that they all had in common? What made it work for them. At the time, Mr. Hill was flat broke. His first thought was to reject the offer. His mind told him that it wasn't possible. He posed a beautiful question on the audio series as he tells the story. He said...

"Why is it that when a human being is presented with an opportunity, the mind usually automatically goes into thinking that it cannot be done?"

I think this answer is because we have developed the habit of buying our own excuses. The easy way out is just that... EASY! This is especially true when it comes to goals that others don't know about. The ability to quit on yourself without the rest of the world knowing is one of the primary reasons that people don't live into their greatness. The mind is as powerful, or as weak, as we want it to be. The picture I posted in this blog is of a gentleman I read about today. Maickel Melamed is a 38 year old man with muscular dystrophy. It took him nearly 17 hours to finish the marathon, but he didn't buy his own excuses as to why he couldn't do it. With the odds stacked against him, he set out to prove a point to himself. His mind was made up, and he forced his body to be in alignment with his decision. I'm sure that he could have thought of twenty million reasons not to run the marathon. Yet, all he needed was one reason powerful enough to make him spring into action and do it! He didn't buy his own excuses. Neither should you.

What are you up to in your life? What is is that you should be doing, but you aren't doing it because of an excuse that you sold yourself? What would life look like if you went after it anyway? How would that make you feel? You are more powerful than you think. Don't buy your own excuses... they cost you too much anyway.

3 comments:

  1. Great Blog bro. Indeed, we can be our worst enemies most of the time. We don't realize how powerful our thoughts are. Great inspiration in this article. Keep up the great work!!!

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  2. Great blog Brutha...I definitely can't afford my own excuses so I try hard not to make them. You inspire so many folks...keep being the wonderful man that you are. And see...you thought I didn't read. Lol

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  3. Great blog Sir...You are blessing to many..........

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