Presence
Well, I almost said good morning. Well you probably … So, if you’re Mountain time or Pacific time, good morning. If you’re Central time or Eastern time, good afternoon. So, been a little bit since did a little post in here. I’m going to explain something. I would love feedback on this because I don’t know unless you guys let me know.
I really have a hard time with talking head who get on a talk, say, every, twice a week, just because that’s their schedule. Their going to do it twice a week, whether or not they’ve got something good to say or not. I don’t like to get on … I don’t really like to talk unless I’ve got something that I’ve been inspired with or something that I’ve been challenged with or something that I think has value. I really don’t have a “schedule” that I come on here on because I want it to be valuable, and I want it to be relevant. If you think I should have a definitive schedule, like, “Hey. Scott’s on every Thursday or every other Thursday,” or if you think I should just go with what I feel inspired with something comes up that i think is relevant. Let me know. Just comment below and let me know what your thoughts are. After all, I don’t do this just for me. I was you guys to get some value out of this too.
Today, I spent the last two weeks in the deer stand, and the thing I love about hunting for me, especially deer hunting in the woods … We sit in the stands up here, is that it give me time to sit and think. When I’m alone with my thoughts like that for that long period of time, it’s just awesome. One of the things I was thinking about was excuses, and I titled this Excuses Are Weapons, but I wanted to look at just the definition real quick of what an excuse is. If you’re looking at it from a verb standpoint, an excuse is the attempt to lessen the blame of attaching to a fault or an offense, to seek, to defend, or justify. If you’re looking at it as a noun, it’s a reason of explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense. So, a reason to justify a fault. I’ve got … I titled this, obviously, that excuses are weapons.
Here’s what they are. They’re the weak man’s weapon. I’m just going to call a spade a spade on this. They’re a weak man’s weapon. An excuse is something that you come up with to justify a fault, or justify an offense that you’ve done or given or something that you haven’t done. That’s what an excuse it. It’s whether being … What do I want to say? Being timely with doing stuff with your kids, being present with your kids, doing your best at your job, paying attention to your health, going to the gym. Let’s face it. A lot of us give the excuse of, “I’m too busy,” or “I don’t have enough time,” or “I’m tired,” when in reality the truth is if you go to work out you’re going to have more energy and you’re going to be able to get more stuff done. So, that’s what excuses are. Right?
We all give them. Heck. I give them. I give them daily. It’s whether or not they’re ruling your life because it can be a weapon. They are weapons. They’re weak man’s weapons. They’re the weapons of people who don’t want to take responsibility. They don’t want to own up to the truth of what they should do, what they want to do, and why they aren’t doing it. I guess, that’s the big thing. Why they aren’t actually doing it. So, they’re making up an excuse.
We’re going to go over three things just real quick in how this looks. Excuses are weak man’s weapons because number one they’re lies. Right? Nine times out of 10 an excuse is simply a lie to justify what you did or didn’t do. Right? If we say, “I didn’t have enough time to go workout.” Every now and then that may be true. There maybe life happens and you may have a day where something happens that takes precedent. That’s part of what’s being called an adult. Right? Certain things have to happen as an adult in your life that need attention. That’s not an excuse. That’s just a reality. The excuse is when you choose something over going to workout. So, it’s a lie. That’s where excuses come in. The excuses are the lie. Reality isn’t a lie. Reality is just what happens in life. So, number one excuses are lies.
Number two, these excuses, these lies allow us the shirk responsibility. So, whether that responsibility is to ourself, to our family, to our job, to whatever it is, it makes us feel better about half-assing it, if you will. It makes us feel better about not taking ourselves or what we planned to do or what we said we’d do seriously. Right? So again, it’s a weapon against you being the best you can be. That’s where this weapon piece comes in. That’s where excuses can be a weapon. It’s a weapon that you’re using against yourself. Take a think about that … Just sit back and think about that. Excuses are weapons that we use against ourselves. It’s like having a knife in a fight and then just turning it against yourself and stabbing yourself and say, “Well, let’s just cut to the chase and get it over with.” Right? It makes no sense. Why do we give ourselves the authority to make excuses and lie to ourselves? Because it allows us to shirk that responsibility and gives us a little bit of feel good being able to do it. So, one they’re lies. Two, they allow us to shirk responsibility.
Three, what else are excuses? Keeps us in patterns. Excuses keep us in comfortable patterns. I quit chewing February 20, 2017, so I’m coming up on my two year anniversary with that. That was a pattern. It’s a habit. That was a pattern, very comfortable pattern and habit to be in. I mean, that’s a little extreme for some things, but it was what I was struggling with, and I made excuse after excuse why I didn’t want to quit. I enjoyed it. Really? I enjoyed having to carry around a cup? Okay. Now, to fix that excuse then I learned to just gut the stuff. Okay. That’s really good for you. It’s that piece of allowing ourselves to be stuck in these self-destructive patterns. That’s ridiculous. I mean, you stop and you really start to …
Here’s one of the problems in life that we go through. For whatever reason, most of us just don’t stop and think. We don’t stop and think things through. Life is happening … Nowadays, unfortunately for some of us … It’s such a pace that we don’t have and we don’t take the time to just sit down and thing about things that are going on in our lives, and if we thought about this stuff and the process behind an excuse about how we’re lying to ourselves. They’re lies. How … It’s a weapon. We’re using a weapon against ourselves. How they just allow us the shirk the responsibility, and how it keeps us in patterns. How we self-destructively keep ourselves in a destructive pattern. If you really sat and thought about it, you’d go, “What the … Why am I allowing myself to do this to myself? It’s makes no sense.” Just like I’m and educated man. I knew that chewing was one of the worst things I could do for my health, yet I still did it because it was a pattern. It was a habit. Excuses, right?
So, this … I mean, it’s a real short one today. I just want to challenge all of you, man, woman, whatever it is to start looking at … Just when you want to do something and you don’t do it and you give an excuse. Don’t just give the excuse and move on. Look at it just a little bit. Take just a little bit of reflection time and when the excuse first comes out say, “Is that an excuse or is it reality?”
An excuse is a lie, it allows us the shirk responsibility, and it keeps us in a pattern. A reality is something came up that needed more attention, and as an adult, and as in life that’s the right thing to do. For example, I want to go to the gym. My kid calls and says, “Hey, dad. I’ve got an opportunity … I’ve got a ton of homework tonight.” Well, he needs my help. Okay? I’m going to be there to help him with his homework. I had plans of going to the gym. Two of my sons workout. My one son sits and does homework in the truck or while I’m working out sits and does homework.
So, I can either say, “Oh, okay. Well …” Make the excuse that, “Well, you know what? I’m too busy.” In this case it’s a reality. He needed help, so I’m going to help him with it. Now, I can look at the rest of my night. Can I now adjust the rest of my schedule that night to go workout? That’s where it becomes in is it a reality or is it simply an excuse? Could a sacrifice something else to get what I want done? If I can’t because this need more attention, that’s a reality. If I can, but I just choose not to, that’s an excuse. That’s a lie, that’s keeping us in a pattern, and it’s allowing us the shirk responsibility, and it’s a weapon we’re using against ourselves, and it’s a weak man’s weapon.
All right guys. Thanks for tuning in. Again, if you get a chance let me know about the schedule of this stuff, if you will. Like I said before, I’d rather … I love doing stuff when I think it’s relevant, when I get inspired when I think about it, rather that having to try to think of something and just doing something because something needs to be done. Put it in the comments what your thoughts are. After all, a lot of this is just for you guys. Thanks guys. Have a great rest of the week. If I don’t talk to … If I’m not on again, have an awesome Thanksgiving, and here’s another thing. Post below something you’re grateful for this week. Something that … Whatever it is. The first thing that comes to your head. The first thought when you say, “I’m grateful.” First thought, put it in the comment section. I’d love to see that. I’m grateful for the ability to do what I do, to have the family I have, and to live in the nation I live in. So, catch y’all later.