Once upon a time I was a college student working to get my undergraduate degree. And during this mythical, magical time, I took a trip to Europe with my fellow students and one night, after 10 days of traveling, we ended up in a beer house in Munich. And of course, hilarity, tall tales, and drunkenness ensued. As well as theft since the school’s tradition was that anyone meeting back at that beer hall had to steal at least one beer stein…I doubled down…ahem…but that’s another story for another time…or not.
Anyway, during story telling and drinking I vaguely remember that I was saying things about stuff I needed to get to or wanted to do at some point. And one of my friends, sometime later in the evening shoved me…I mean got my attention…and handed me one of the beer coasters and said “Ok, now you have no excuse. ” I looked at the coaster, which was a circle, and around the edge he had written “tuit” over and over and over. He had literally given me ‘a round tuit’ so he was right. I had to start doing these things now because I had gotten around to it.
Saying ‘some day’ or ‘I don’t know how I’m going to’ or ‘things just seem to get in the way’ can become a habit, can come to define us, can develop into the story we tell about our lives, or be the way we hide from the realities we don’t want to face. We know exactly what we need to do, where we want to go, and what is in front of us, and we language that by telling others how we never actually get that done. Well, I know it may sound trite, but instead of expending the energy talking about it, get up the courage to create your round tuit. Decide to deal with the situation that is preventing you from getting where you want to be, even if that situation is your fear of success. Take one step towards your goal. Think outside the box. Look at the structure you have made for yourself around the issue and think, is that really permanent or is something I made of paper and can take down myself? What if all those things that are preventing me from getting where I want to be are within my own control? What if I changed just one of them? What if I changed my assumptions about these things being the only way things work? What if I look for other options?
Here’s your round tuit. Now go get it done.