No More Excuses

The time has come: I'm going cold turkey. Not from an addictive substance, but in the places in my life where I make the most excuses.

Exercising.
Waking up.
Eating.
Working.

My falterings in these areas of my life keep me from being as productive and strong and healthy (and happy) as I want to be. So I'm instituting some immediate changes. But first...

Where did this come from?

David Blaine.

Yes, the magician. Trust me, I'm still a little surprised myself. Let me explain. I've never been a big fan of Blaine--in fact, for the most part I go with the view that he's lame and kitschy.

Then earlier today, I ran across this video via TED (if you don't know TED, check it out...I'm a bit addicted myself). In the video, David Blaine talks about his latest stunt: trying (and succeeding) to break the world record for holding one's breath under water. He went 17 minutes. 17. Minutes. While he isn't a very good speaker by any means, it's what he said that struck a chord with me.

When I've seen or read about about all of these stunts Blaine has pulled over the years, I've never once really thought about how much work and preparation goes into everything he does, but the amount of time and effort he puts into these acts is absolutely incredible. And even more so, it's inspiring. At one point in the speech, Blaine mentions he fasted for a week before one of his stunts, as if it were a footnote. Not eating anything for seven weeks, as if it were the easiest part.

And here I am, complaining about how I can't bring myself to eat healthier. Or get out of bed early. Or exercise when I want to. Or be as productive as I want to be in my work.

Starting to see where I'm coming from? Last month I wrote a list of resolutions--not necessarily New Years' resolutions, but really more just things I want to improve in myself and in my life this in general. I've found that my biggest problem in instituting some of these changes is discipline. I make excuses in so many different parts of my life, and I lack the discipline to make the tough changes. So what do I do? I keep making excuses.

I'm sick and tired of this process. I've taken a gradual approach in the past, but I feel it is not working right now. Thus, cold turkey. I'm throwing myself right into the fire. Either that or I will drag myself tooth and nail through the fire.

Discipline is the one thing I lack which keeps me from being productive--and happy--in my life. Over the course of my life to this point, I've created this mentality, this horrible, destructive mentality, that holds me back from doing the things I want to do and achieving what I want to achieve. It's not just one area of my life or another: it's a general, contagious mentality that extends to everything I do, in some way or another. And that mentality has to change.

These changes I'm going to institute, starting tomorrow, represent drastic overhauls in some of the areas where that mentality is the worst. Specifically, those mentioned in the beginning of the post: eating, waking up, exercising and working. I won't go into what I'm doing for each, but suffice to say it will not be pleasant and it will not be easy. At all. Hopefully, it will be the wake up call I need. Hopefully, working through these changes will help me to destroy this negative mentality that's been festering in me for so long.

This will help me learn greater discipline.
This greater discipline will help me to be more productive.
This productivity will help me to lead a healthier, happier life.

And isn't that what almost everyone wants? I know it's what I want. And I'm sick and tired of waiting. Of taking baby steps. No, it's time for to whip my ass into shape, it's time for drastic measures. Sure it'll be tough, but the easy road is rarely the one worth taking. I make excuses to take that easy road. But ask David Blaine if he's making excuses when he's fasting in small glass box above London for 44 days. I'm willing to bet he isn't.

Will there be distractions? Sure. And I will probably falter many times along the way. That's normal. The good thing with some distractions is you can eliminate them. Personally, I must learn to work without certain distractions before I can learn to work with them, so I intend to take away some of these distractions while I'm undertaking these life changes: Facebook, AIM, cable television. These are a few of the distractions I will deal without for a while, at least until I get to a point where I feel I can integrate them into my life without them creating further excuses.

It's gonna be painful and it's gonna suck a lot at first, but the reward is beyond measure.

Many of the TED videos are similarly motivational, and while the David Blaine one didn't single-handedly spur this response in me, I think it made me realize what I was doing wrong and what I could do about it. If you've got the time, check out the speech. My respect for David Blaine skyrocketed. Truly motivational. Truly inspiring...thank you David Blaine.