If You Do Anything Without Effort, It Will Fail

“But I don’t understand why it’s not working,” they said.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that statement, I would be rich. If I got another dollar every time I looked at the specific data behind why it was not working and found that they didn’t put in the effort, I would be even richer.

Excuses.

It’s amazing how easy it is to get to an excuse when trying to accomplish something.

True story.

I decided I wanted to run the half marathon. As the fat kid, running a race of that magnitude seemed unlikely. But, I wanted it.

In the first year of deciding to run that race, I registered online, downloaded a workout plan for running a half marathon and went to work.

The first week was great. I hit all of the marks on the schedule. The second week had some excuses. Coworkers wanted to go out – and even though I wanted to crush my goal, my motivation wasn’t enough to prevent me from going out. Drinking > running.

As the weeks went on, the excuses continued. The good in the drive to run a half marathon was that I was running more than I did. The bad in committing to the process was that I wasn’t really committed.

As the week of the Chicago Half Marathon approached, I panicked. How was I going to get out of this one? I had told my family, my coworkers and my friends I was running it. What could I possibly do?

And then, I had my aha moment. I would get the flu.

The Saturday before the race, I willed myself into being too sick – creating an excuse for why I couldn’t run the race. The dog, my friends, had been eating the heck out of my homework.

Poor me. People felt bad. They perceived that I put in the effort. I told them I put in the effort. I lied. Not only to them, but to myself. And in a big way.

I wasn’t committed. I didn’t believe in my vision. I wasn’t prepared.

A year passed and I decided I wasn’t going to allow myself the excuses.

I signed up. I trained harder. I created fewer excuses (I still took off some days where I wasn’t supposed to). I showed up on Sunday. I finished the race in 2:35. I completed the goal.

All throughout the race, though, my mind went to a place where I didn’t believe I would be able to finish that race. I started battling myself with excuses. And then, I pulled out the mental hammer and silenced my self-doubt.

Today, on some Saturdays, I run a half marathon on the treadmill for the hell of it (I still have the excuse of playing video games while running, though).

It took me believing in myself for me to complete my goal. It took effort. No excuses.

Year one, I told people I didn’t know why it didn’t happen. “How could I possibly get sick?” Year two, I put those to rest and went to work.

Ultimately, KPIs, goals and accomplishments are in your control. You decide if you are going to show up. You decide if you are going to commit. You decide if you are going to crush it. You decide if you are going to be a giant.