Excuses are the WORST. Many times we don’t even realize that’s what they are.

We use them to defend ourselves.

To play victim to our situations.

To keep from having to take a risk.

To keep from getting hurt, and many other reasons.

To keep from playing big, so we won’t fail.

But if you look back on those previous 5 sentences… what’s the common thread there?

FEAR.

Are you using fear & excuses to stay stuck?

How do we overcome our fears & how do we keep fear from ruining our lives, and our businesses?

My family is full of problem solvers. Solution finders. Fixers. Loyal people who work very hard, give everything 1,000% effort and who you can trust, absolutely. I always thought that was normal, until I began adulting and realized it wasn’t.

So it’s no wonder that I am the way I am, though I must admit, reading it in black and white was both affirming and kind of shocking.

My Enneagram test results (and yes I took the paid test to get the 23 page breakdown on my top 4, bc I literally can’t half-ass anything at all 😂) described me with perfection, from my faults to my challenges, to what I’m really great at.

And I must say, it’s really odd reading about yourself like that! I know they didn’t write those results FOR me specifically, but it’s kind of nuts how accurate it is.

Reading my results helped me understand how my brain works & why I do the things the way I do them. Learning what the driving forces behind my decisions are & understanding why my challenges are challenging and why I’m good at certain things.

If you’ve taken the Enneagram test too, have you found that you’re wondering what type everyone is?

I totally am! I’ve discussed it with all of my immediate family (and then some) and found that most of us share one or two types, which is pretty neat. Must be why we get along so well. HAHA!

With that shared curiosity in mind, let’s find out what type(s) I am and see if you can relate!

Truth Bomb: I’ve been feeling stuck for a long time.

I’m sure you can relate if you’re reading this.

There’s so much out there saying blog X times a week, start a podcast, start a YouTube channel, send X emails to your list every week, create a course, start a membership, post to Pinterest X times a week, post to Instagram at least 1x day, create a Facebook group, stay active on social media, show up in the DMs, do Insta Stories ––on and on and on.

Well as you can see, perhaps, that’s a lot of shit to be keeping up with. #amIright?

Frankly, I don’t want to do most of those things. They just don’t resonate with me and the things I have fun doing are just hard for me to do consistently with my current schedule.

So, I’ve been listening to #allthepodcasts and I just picked up Marie Forleo’s new book Everything is Figureoutable (love it, btw!) and I’ve been punched in the gut a few times with some realizations.

Ya know, stuff “we already know” but aren’t doing anything to fix/adapt/change? Yeah, that stuff.

Because those “Ah-ha!” moments hit me in the face with a truth bomb I needed to pay attention to (yes we’re all still learning!), I wanted to make sure I could share those Ah-has with you!

One of my goals for 2018 is to consistently plan & write several blog posts in advance and schedule them to post at regular times, so I stay ahead of the game and have more focused & consistent content for you.

So far I have to say, I've failed miserably! I've written 2 posts this year, including this one, and neither were written until the day I posted them. *sigh*

That's okay though.Shit happens and I'm rolling with it.

It's been a really tough & interesting few weeks for me and my husband. There's been some good and bad, and because I'm a more private person I had no intention (zero) of sharing any of it with you, until this morning when I sat down to write today's blog.

So I'm gonna get personal, and tell you what's going on. More importantly though, I'll also tell you what and how I'm finding the positive things in each situation. 

I love to read, and because I don't have much time for my favorite hobby, I also love to listen to audiobooks. Gotta get my fix in somehow!

I don't love listening to self-help/nonfiction though, or at least I used to find the idea abhorrent. The idea of listening to someone talk on and on about how to "up your game," or become "more focused," ...blah, blah, blah... could have easily been a form of punishment for me.

That is, until I read a couple of business books (of my own free will, I might add!) this past fall. (I got sucked in, okay?!) They opened my eyes to a whole new genre which I can actually tolerate, as it turns out, and some of which I really (REALLY) enjoyed reading/listening to.

So, as with most things I get excited about, I dove in head first and created a list of books I want to read in this genre. And since I went to all that effort, I figured I should share the wealth of knowledge with you too!

Today my advice is a little more personal. Today I want you to decide to stop letting your fear of failure get in the way of your success.

Look, I know. If you're reading this, you're probably thinking, "But I'm not afraid? I have real, legitimate struggles to overcome before I can do anything at all."

I wholeheartedly disagree, and here's why!

You probably know the famous saying, "Que sera sera," or, "Whatever will be, will be." That's the advice I'm giving myself!