The Voice

So stop listening to it. You are never going to be able to completely silence the voice. When you think you may have, it will pop up at the worst time and start spreading doubt. You can ignore it...in fact, you must get good at ignoring it. This voice, the one only you can hear, will hold you back from reaching your potential more than anything else.

This voice pops up all the time, whether you are exercising or training or applying for a new job or learning a new language or studying a subject you find interesting or taking classes or doing anything new and different. It holds us back and convinces us to not give our all. I don't know if this is a survival mechanism from when we were hunter/gatherers or something new, but we have to learn that it has no place in our life.

The good thing is you can start to quiet it when you prove it wrong. It doesn't matter how you prove it wrong; all you have to do is keep going when it says you can't do something. Don't let it stop you or zap your motivation. Keep pushing and keep going. You will break through. You are capable of doing anything, if you put in the work, no matter what this shitty, little voice says.

The key is to recognize this voice for what it is when it pops up. You can even give the voice a name, if you want. Tell it to shut up, argue with it or just ignore it, but don't believe it. This voice will come up with great reasons why you shouldn't do things...it's too cold or wet to run, it's too late to study, you're not smart enough to learn that, this TV show looks better than hitting the gym, you don't have the qualifications for that job, you can't afford to go back to school, etc. These excuses are all bullshit.

Nothing you really want to do is going to be easy. If it was, you would have already done it. But, if you really want to do something, then it matters to you. Don't let bullshit excuses from a voice in your head stop you from doing them. Get out there and do the work. Don't let the rain stop you from running. Don't let fear of failure stop you from learning something new or applying for the job or moving across the country. Don't let any of the excuses stop you from doing the work you need to do. Don't let the voice convince you that doing something hard is a waste of time. It's not. Letting the voice win is the waste. Don't spend another day letting it control your life.

What's Really Stopping You?

If you could spend the rest of your life doing anything, what would it be? For most people, this can be a very difficult question because it opens up a new realm of possibility, if they think about it honestly. Another way to ask the same question, when you daydream, where to you see yourself going and what do you see yourself doing?

What's stopping you? Is it money? Your family? Don't know where to start? Think it is impossible? Afraid to lose family and friends over a "crazy" idea? Worried about what happens if it doesn't work out? Think doing these things are for younger people or older people or single people or couples without kids or people who don't own a house or any other type of person who isn't you? Have too many responsibilities?

Well, I am going to call bullshit on all of the above and any other excuse you can come up with. There are only two things stopping you from doing what you want: fear and laziness. We are really good at self-sabotage. For many of us, we would quit our job and do something we love once we have enough money saved up, but we don't focus on saving. We think we need more experience or a degree to do what we want, but we don't try to find experience or sign up for classes. We don't know where to start, but we don't do any research to figure it out. We convince ourselves our dreams are impossible because we are too scared to actually chase them. What if we fail? What if things go wrong?

What if they don't? As I get older, I am starting to realize I would much rather chase my dreams and not quite reach them than think they are impossible and not do anything. I have used all of the excuses in paragraph two and while they may make "logical" sense in my head, they are really bullshit. Chasing your dreams and plotting your own course is odd and a little too rare. People might think you are crazy and they might worry a lot about you. And? Do you really want to live your life in such a way that no one ever worries about you?

These excuses work for the little dreams, too. Things you say you want to do and still haven't. Do you want to travel the world? Eliminate the bullshit excuses and what's really stopping you? Do you want to write a novel? Eliminate the bullshit excuses and what's really stopping you? Do you want to move to another state or another country? Eliminate the bullshit excuses and what's really stopping you? Do you want to run a marathon, climb a mountain, hike the Appalachian Trail, bike across America, learn to surf, sail around the world, skydive, start a band or any other "crazy" idea? Eliminate the bullshit excuses and what's really stopping you?

I honestly believe we can do anything we want to do. We have to eliminate the bullshit excuses, stop allowing fear to run our life, stop being so damn lazy and figure out where to start. There are people out there who live their life by their own rules and I am sure they would be more than happy to help out. I wish I could say I am living a life like this, but I am on this journey with you. We're not getting any younger. I say we start calling each other on the bullshit excuses and start living the life we really want to live.