What Did You Make Today?

What did you make today?
Did you make things happen?
Did you make mistakes?
Or did you make excuses?

If you made things happen — celebrate!

With more interruptions and distractions in your life today than ever before in the history of the world it is quite an achievement to simply be productive. And you didn’t just get things done — you made things happen, baby!

That’s a sweet, sweet victory and you need to spend a little time patting yourself on the back, making a note in your journal about what a good day it was, and perhaps treat yourself to a really good dinner with a nice glass of wine.

But don’t spend too much time celebrating — you need to get back to work so you can make something happen again tomorrow.

Did you make mistakes?

Mistakes are nothing to be ashamed of. Mistakes are what you make before you can make something happen. Mistakes are the way you learn. The trick is to not make the same mistake again tomorrow (make new mistakes).

Mistakes are how you gain experience and get better at something. You don’t just go up to the plate and hit home runs on your first day holding a bat. You have to practice your swing, get hundreds of strikes and foul balls, and slowly increase your ratio of hits to misses until finally you begin to feel comfortable swinging for the fences every time you get up to bat.

Did you make excuses?

Making excuses is about the most worthless way to spend your day. Excuses don’t do anyone any good. A mistake might not result in achieving a goal, but a mistake helps you make progress so making a mistake is infinitely more valuable than making an excuse.

Excuses do not get you closer to goals, or sharpen any of your personal or professional skills. If anything, it blunts them. Whatever edge you might have once had gets dulled with each excuse you make.

Your excuses are not fooling anyone.

Especially yourself.