Commitments and Excuses

Friday, February 21

I mentioned yesterday that it’s been bitterly cold in Oklahoma this week. The wind chill the last two mornings hit -15. Thankfully, our home has handled the cold so far (though I do have a probably irrational fear of frozen pipes).

My morning workouts happen in our sunroom—a space added onto the house at some point that doesn’t have central heat. It has a window unit that gives great effort, but when the temperature is 2 degrees with sub-zero wind chills, there’s only so much it can do.

Needless to say, it was freezing in there. Cold enough to make me want to skip my workout. Cold enough to justify an excuse.

But I worked out anyway.

I layered up. I wore gloves at times because the metal dumbbells felt like ice, and the cast-iron kettlebells were worse. But I did it. Why? Because for the last few years, I’ve trained my mind with two simple truths:

I do hard things.
I live my commitments, not my feelings.

And we become what we repeatedly think. So it didn’t matter how I felt. It didn’t matter that it was cold or uncomfortable. I did what I committed to.

This isn’t about me (believe me, I have plenty of weaknesses we can talk about). It’s about becoming the type of people want to become. It’s about progress. Five years ago? I probably would’ve let my excuses win. This week, I didn’t. That’s growth.

But our world loves excuses. People quit, back down, or avoid the work at the first sign of discomfort, resistance, or inconvenience.

But you and me? We’re not most people.

When the world lives by excuses, be the kind of leader who lives by commitments.
Keep chopping wood.

🪵🪓

-Kevin

*and yes, I know today’s email was similar to the one from yesterday, but the message is that important. I had a handful of conversations yesterday that reinforced that belief for me. After all, if the world were full of people living their commitments, I wouldn’t have to write about it.