Send 'em Packing
/Whenever I go out of town, one of my least favorite things to do is pack. I love traveling and taking vacations, but packing doesn’t rank high on my fun and relaxing meter. However, it’s something that must be done. Since we are heading into the summer months and everyone is getting ready for summer vacations or even stay-cations, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about a topic we all have been familiar with at one time or another, EXCUSES.
Life is precious because it gives us amazing opportunities to be a blessing to others and to receive blessings from our Father. We should cherish every moment and make every action count. But, it is hard to do that if we are unproductive. If we find ourselves being unproductive, then we must ask ourselves the question, WHY? Why are we unproductive?
Many times it’s not the external, but it’s the internal. Basically, it’s our attitude and response to the external that causes us to be unsuccessful or unproductive. Usually we know how to make our lives more productive and successful, but we find ways to blame other things around us instead of blaming ourselves.
It all boils down to EXCUSES.
So, what do you do with your excuses?
SEND ‘EM PACKING!!!
How do you send ‘em packing?
There are three steps:
Step #1 - Pack Them Up
All right, if you enjoy packing raise your hand? Okay, it may be one of two people who enjoy it, but for the most part we all try to put this part of the trip off for as long as possible.
Packing up your excuses means first realizing what needs to be packed up and shipped out because you need to know what excuses you are using. We use many excuses to justify why we are unproductive or unsuccessful. You probably have heard many excuses, but let me share a list of common excuses to avoid:
- Traffic was bad
- People are just haters
- I was discriminated against
- I don’t have enough money
- I don’t have the resources
- I don’t have enough time
- It’s Monday
- I’m too old
- I’m too young
- I didn’t know, no one told me
- The dog ate my homework (LOL!) - I don’t remember, but did that ever work in school? Someone please let me know, if it did.
I could keep going on and on with this list. Trust me, there are millions of excuses being used everyday. How about taking those excuses and packing them up?
Step #2 - Zip Them Up
I know this part may seem easy, but it is not as easy as you may think. Do you remember trying to pack with a bag too small? Well if you haven’t had this experience, please let me explain.
We would go on vacations or camping as a child and could only take one bag. I remember stuffing that one bag, but the hardest part was zipping the bag up. I would lie on the bag, sit on the bag, and jump on the bag to get it to close.
This step of the process is more of confirmation that you have packed up all your excuses. Make sure you didn’t leave any out that will hinder your productivity.
Step #3 - Send Them Out
When it comes to excuses, there are far too many that exist. Somehow, someway we need to pack them up, zip them up, and send them out. There’s only one thing about this bag. Unlike the bags we take with us on various trips, we don’t want to ever see this bag again.
At the first sign of an excuse, repeat steps 1-3 and Send 'em Packing.