excuses, anyone?!
I work in the adult-learning space as a writing tutor as well as a yoga teacher.. I know, busy much?! One thing that I have noticed over the years, is how many excuses we put in our way to not do the work.
These ‘excuses’ are real, do NOT get me wrong. Adulting is hard and busy and full of complications you never saw coming, so believe me, I get it.
Buuuuuuuuut…
At the end of the day, strip those excuses out the way, and the end result is that you just did not do the work.
I know, harsh! But we have all been here, we have all laid the excuses on, and we have all probably whinged when we have not got the result we wanted!
What I hear a lot, is people waiting for the “right time”, for the “right conditions” to do the thing, and these are, I am afraid, lovely excuses! The reality is, that there IS no right time, you create that by doing the thing.
In Patajali’s yoga sutras, he tells us that the ingredients that get us results, are DISCIPLIE and DEVOTION.
Yoga Sutra 2.1
"Tapas svādhyāya iśvara-pranidhānăni
kriya-yogah"
A direct translation is:
"Discipline (tapas), self-study (svādhyāya), and surrender/devotion to something greater (iśvara-pranidhāna) are the path of yoga in action."
Broken down:
Tapas → disciplined effort, inner fire, willingness to lean into discomfort for growth
Svadhyaya → self-study, reflection, learning about yourself and your patterns
Iśvara-pranidhana → surrender, trust, devotion, letting go of needing to control evervthing
Not the right time.
Not the right clothes, or the right pen, or the right room, or the right skills.
DISCIPLIE and DEVOTION
Want to lose weight? You have to be disciplined in what you eat and how you move.
Want to write a book? You have to sit down and write.
Want a steady mind? You have to breathe and rest and move and meditate.
And here is the kicker. You can’t do any of this once. You have to do it again and again and again… and of course P-dawg has something to say about that too-
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1.14
“Sa tu dīrgha-kāla-nairantarya-satkārā-āsevito dṛḍha-bhūmiḥ”
Translation:
Practice becomes firmly grounded when done for a long time, without interruption, and with devotion (or sincerity).
So you see, DISCIPLINE is something that has to be applied again and again- on the days that you want to, and the days that you don’t. THAT is the only way that you lose the weight, or write the book, or get a steady mind.
You either lean in to the discomfort and the excuses and do the work… or you just have the excuses.
And I know this sounds harsh, but life is not comfortable my friends! I am speaking these words of wisdom as much to myself as to you, believe me- my book is stuck on chapter 4 and has been for MONTHS, because I have been too busy running my business, and writing blog posts (🤪) and caring for my dogs and washing my hair… you know, all the same excuses as you!
But the question then needs to be- do you REALLY want that thing? Because if you do, then get on with it. And if you don’t and can give it up- maybe its time to move on? And if that triggered you.., then it means you DO want that thing, so now you just have to get around your excuses and do it!
As always, thanks P-Dawg for the inspo- you are a smart, very scary man who needs to stop watching me because it feels like you are speaking to me in every sutra!!