This is it! “FIND OR CREATE”-— but we will never fabricate an excuse not to go forward…..This little quip is the backbone, or the essence of determination. We know the way. We know the difficulties. We know the tools required to make the trek. We know the pitfalls we will face along the way. Despite all this the journey to the winner’s circle is loaded with things that will discourage us all the way to our core. Nothing is easy but if we are going to win we have to be willing to go over, go under, go around, or through barriers. It’s a mindset that must be in place before we start or developed as we go. If we are stopped by these seemingly monolithic obstructions and we determine that they are non-negotiable, we have to do something else. Quitting is not an option.
The next thing we turn to is innovation or creativity. In other words we go about the business of “creating a way” where no way forward is available. We abandon everything we have tried and think deeply and come up with a totally different approach. Here’s an example from the world of bodybuilding and training. Let’s suppose our show is 12 weeks away. We suddenly injure a tendon in your right elbow. Sure, it requires rest but your schedule just doesn’t allow for time lost and effort to be lessened. Instead of letting the injury become an excuse to bow out, you think hard and long about which muscle groups are being affected by certain movements. We try different exercises aimed at the muscle group carefully monitoring the pain each causes. As we go we discover that simple triceps push downs with a rope allows for maximal contraction of the triceps with minimal pain. All other movements caused way too much pain, but this one works. Case in point! Sometimes you cannot blast through a problem with sheer will power. You have to plug in your brain, come up with a new way of doing things to get the same results. Of course when the contest is over, go see a doctor if the pain persists. Sometimes you just have to play hurt.
Lastly, the old adage that says, “you can have an excuse or you can get results, but you cannot have both”.……You have to decide that it’s worth it and then you have to sometimes devise a brand new way to accomplish the desired end. If quitting is not an option. Attack the problem. If and when you fail, come up with something new.
Bottom Line: All of us have got to see a problem that threatens our stated goal. Only options, as noted above are to: 1.) Find a way or 2.) Create a way—–Excuses are for failures……Don’t be a failure.
Six Pack and Senior 