{Magnet from artsyville on Etsy}
Suck it up. Keep moving forward. Take action.
I tried to send this message loud and clear during my second workshop at the Etsy Success Symposium this past Tuesday. And, I got a lot of responses from people who said, “That’s exactly what I needed to hear.”
But, some people don’t like to hear it. They want the “secret” to success. They want to know how to make lots of money without doing lots of hard work. They want to believe that if they can find that one elusive answer, all their creative dreams will come true.
It doesn’t work that way. Overnight success doesn’t happen.
People succeed from taking consistent action toward their goals. And, you can easily be one of those people.
What’s your big goal?
Post it on your wall. Ask yourself if the things you’re doing on a daily basis are bringing your closer to your goal or further away from your goal.
Are you spending more than an hour a day on business busywork? This is the stuff that isn’t bringing you any closer to your creative dream goal. If you waste hours on social media or check your email every 5 minutes, you’re misusing precious time that could be spent getting you closer to your goals.
Stop making crap excuses.
Everybody has stuff going on in their lives. Everybody. Your stuff might be more valid than somebody else’s stuff—but it doesn’t mean you aren’t making crap excuses.
There are people who have major setbacks and problems, and they still succeed. You can, too. It’s a choice to succeed. It’s a choice to work hard. It’s a choice to take consistent action.
There are two types of people: excuse makers and doers. The doers succeed. And, well, we all know what happens with the excuse makers: nothing much.
Which one are you going to be today?
I love it when someone speaks the truth. I’m battling with the excuses and trying to tip over into doing.
Great post. I finally stopped making excuses a few months ago; it was easy to say my daughter’s disabilities made it too difficult to progress to the next level but I knew I was just making excuses.
I worked on your worksheets and my Morning Pages at the same time. Within weeks, I had three retailers contact me–one said she liked what she saw in my blog, another also liked it and the other saw one of my bags on a customer. It made me feel like I was on the right path for me.
And all because I stopped making excuses.
Thanks, April.
That’s awesome Erika–seriously awesome! I’m soooooooo happy for you!
Thank you for sharing 🙂
April,
I just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed your talk at the etsy symposium. I felt very lucky to be able to watch the video on etsy.com. I was very impressed and VERY inspired. Thank you so much!
Victoria
You’re welcome Victoria! Thanks for dropping by to let me know 🙂
LOVE this. So so love this. xo
Lately, I feel like I’ve been hearing from everywhere to stop making excuses for why my ______ (work, marriage, life, etc.) isn’t where I want it to be. Somehow, though, your voice spoke to me the most. Thank you so much, April!
Rise up!!!
Shout it out….
Don’t make that your excuse for the day, and carry it on to the next.
Wow, how many times have I’ve done that, thank you for sharing this… I got me thinking. :]
Hi April,
This is such a great post! I find myself making excuses all the time, but no more! I just want to say that I’m new to your blog and I’ve really enjoyed reading it the past couple of days. Thanks for all of your inspiring tips!
And again, thanks so much.