Making Excuses 101 ~ How to Overcome Them to Achieve your Goals

"Being a LEADER is EXPECTED... Not Requested" ~Chad Wade

(For all my facebook readers, this note is a re-post from my blog)

It turns out that in taking part in a 52 week, 52 book challenge, I am challenging myself in much MORE than simply taking time out of my day to invest in my knowledge (and exercise my mind). This is also a challenge in becoming a life-long learner, in time-management, in becoming a better leader, and in finding COMFORT being out of my comfort zone.

For example...

In the fall, my excuse for not creating incredible results in either my business ventures or my school work was, "School is taking too much time out of my day to focus on my businesses," and "My businesses have made me too busy to fully focus on my music."

Both of these excuses were used at one point or another, either to explain my acceptance for mediocrity either to myself or to other people.

*MISTAKE*

In making excuses for myself, not only am I ensuring that I will NOT achieve any of my goals in EITHER business or music, but I am ensuring that I will not be able to achieve the lifestyle that I desire to create.

In reading the book "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris, I am challenged to overcome these obstacles and look more intuitively at how I am using my TIME <-- my greatest asset. In a simple example, he talks about restricting email use to twice a week... and setting up auto-responders to send out an email to anyone that emails you saying "I am only checking my email on Monday at 11AM, and on Friday at 5PM. If any matter is much more urgent, feel free to call me on my cell phone to get in touch immediately."

Timothy explained that this cleared away any excuses he made for not being productive in his day, and spending too much time with emails, but it also made the people that were emailing him question the urgency of his response (and very rarely would he even get phone calls).

As many of you know, I am a big advocate of APPLYING knowledge in my OWN life. As it relates to reading email, being on facebook, twitter, and youtube, I plan on limiting my internet consumption to an hour in any single day. I can surely get everything I NEED to get done in that time. Whether it is uploading new videos, responding to friend requests, building my network, and finding the necessary resources to take care of business - these can surely be taken care of in only an hour every day (probably less as I get more comfortable with the schedule).

Result?

I will have more time to practice my music, I will have more time to make business calls, I will have more time to read books, develop relationships, contribute to my school work, work out daily, and participate in ministry activities.

Do you see it?

One simple change in my life, allows me to DO so much more that I had been making excuses NOT TO DO before. Also, by no stretch at all am I considering spending ALL of the newly-found free time to be productive, but it allows my productive activities to be fulfilled completely rather than in part.

You see, the more specific I can be about the goals I am setting, the better chance I will achieve them. "I will only spend ONE hour a day on facebook." I will wake up at 6AM, work out for 30 minutes (with my specific fitness goals and routine in mind), and then shower to start my day." "I will spend 2 hours saturday afternoon making phone calls to set up a minimum of 6 appointments for conference calls during the week (at specific times)."

The goals here are very specific and measurable... making them achievable.

Looking back to the title of my post, I now remember why I decided to write this blog post. After an unexpected turn of events, I will now be going to school at NIU full time instead of only part-time like I had expected. Being that this is an incredible time commitment, it is absolutely necessary for me to make CHANGES to adjust in order to achieve all the same goals I would have had with only a half-time schedule. This is the exact same principle as "The 4-Hour Work Week," but instead of spending those 4-Hours to be able to escape my JOB, it is to allow me to continue to be in school ~ And simultaneously run successful businesses.

THERE WILL BE CHALLENGES... and I know this.

The challenge will be to figure out ways to be more EFFICIENT with my time, rather than being half-efficient with many different tasks.

...More to come.

Please leave me comments below to inspire me to continue writing on my blog...

Also, if you aren't already... follow me on twitter, youtube, and facebook.

~Kevin Hudoba

630-677-5559

Other Resources:

7 Free Videos "How to Attract People to Your Business", 

Starting a Business on a TIGHT BUDGET, 

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NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER!

Today I got in an accident when I rear-ended a semi. I'm fine... my car is KO. I was supposed to get my wires off today, but it never happened since I got in an accident on the way there. I think the universe is trying to take everything away from me, but doesn't realize that I'll NEVER GIVE UP! I could lose my car, all my money, people close to me, anything and everything... but as long as I am alive, it cannot take away what lies between my ears, my brain and my knowledge. I realized something today as I was sitting in my smashed car, and waiting over an hour for the police to come... so cold, so upset. In the past month, I have lost my ability to make music, I have lost my ability to eat foods, I have lost my ability to verbally communicate, and I have now lost my car. In this time, I have read 4 books, attended Nouveau Riche RE Investing college, and set a plan of action for my future. I have fed my brain with life-changing information that I can never lose. Right now I should be crying in my bedroom about how I'm not going to have a car, or about how I was supposed to be able to eat again today, but THAT WILL NOT SERVE ME to look upon the past as "what if" something didn't happen. As John Dessaur says in his seminars, "When someone pukes all over you about how horrible the economy is, respond with 'So What, NOW WHAT?'" That's exactly where I'm at right now. Never give in and never surrender to the temptation to drown in your own laziness and sorrows, because that will never serve you for changing your future for the better. If you are ever feeling down or upset, or like you have lost something or even everything... think that THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER! Everything you do from that point forward will improve your life as long as you are taking steps forward toward that reality. If you succumb to your own pain or sorrow, it will eat you alive. NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER.

~Kevin Hudoba