Guest Post: Make Awesome, Not Excuses

Looking for a dose of inspiration and motivation?  My friend Leilan may have just what you're looking for.  Leilan is a husband, dad, social media master, and all around great guy.  And this post... well, read it for yourself!

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I want to thank Liz for letting me write this guest post about being awesome and not making excuses. If you want another avenue to achieve awesomeness, this post may be for you.

There are two types of people. Those who make awesome and those who make excuses.  Seriously, look at the people who are successful. Look at what they do. STUDY THEM! They will teach you how to be successful in goal killing. They strive to overcome, regardless of the obstacle. They are successful because they are goal driven individuals. Successful people do not want to fail. If they do fail, it is a learning experience. People who constantly make excuses rarely complete their goals. They mean well. There are certain events that happen, these obstacles prevent goals from not being hit. 

When I was younger. I made excuses for not finishing my college degree. I have to work, I have to do this. I have to do that. I made excuses, lots of excuses. Instead of working on my college education I made excuses. I made excuses for lots of things in my life.  My excuses were the reason I failed at a lot of goals when I was younger. Later in life, I made graduating college a goal. Made sacrifices, and graduated with an undergrad degree and got into grad school. Grad school, to my 1995 self, was like becoming an astronaut. Impossible.

Two years ago, I signed up to complete a marathon. I am not a runner and people thought I was a crazy fat guy. I am a fat guy who is a goal killer. I like to complete goals. My goal was to complete a marathon. I found a marathon training schedule and followed it to the letter. If it said run, I ran. If it said rest, I rested. In November of 2010, I completed my first 26 mile run. I am now an overweight elite athlete.

I share this with you not to brag that I completed a marathon. Well, kind of and sort of. I completed 2.96 marathons. I will beat the Carmel Marathon next April. Completing the marathon was all I thought about in the months leading up to it. I read blogs, I followed runners and marathons on Twitter. I ran every morning in a mall parking lot. I went to bed early and didn't watch any television. To overcome the boredom of running, I kept visualizing crossing the finish line of my first marathon.

If you want to be awesome and a goal killer, focus on the goal. Instead of making excuses, find ways to overcome the obstacles. One of the big lessons I learned over the years is that if there's a will, there's a way. Even after you start to make this life change, you will still be moved to tears when you complete goals which require sacrifices. 

Goal killing is an emotional activity. If you're not crying when you complete these goals, you need to push yourself harder. I am almost brought to tears every time I think of my marathon finishes or college graduation. Every single time. You can do this, I believe in you.

Take care and thank you for reading,

Are you with me?

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I'm feeling like I'm ready to start looking at some bigger goals now!  To go along with choosing awesome, I have to wonder about the barriers I put on myself - the excuses that I make to not even set those bigger goals.

Challenge - taken!