“I Don’t Wanna” is a Valid Excuse

“Give me four sets of ten, and then you're done,” said Jeremy, my trainer.

“Is ‘I don't wanna' a valid excuse?” I quipped.

“Sure. If you can live with yourself,” came the quick reply.

I did the sets.

The truth of the matter is while I did not want to do those last few exercises, I wanted the results. I want to be healthy and to look and feel good. I don't feel the need to look like a bodybuilder, but I always feel better and have more energy when I stay in shape. That doesn't come from sitting around watching Netflix and eating chips all day.

“I don't wanna” is a perfectly valid excuse, and I encourage you to stop doing things you don't want to do. But you need to ask yourself if not doing those things is going to interfere with your long term goals.

There have been many days I didn't want to get out of bed and go to work, but I did want to have a successful career so I can provide for my family. Those are conflicting desires as 90% of success is showing up, and in those cases, while I didn't wanna get out of bed at the time, I knew that not doing so would affect my long term goals.

If you don't want to do something that needs to get done, then hiring someone to do that is a good option assuming you have the funds to do so. Unfortunately, there are some things like exercising and personal development that you can't outsource.

Choose wisely, and ask yourself if you can live with your decision not to do something because you “don't wanna.” You may find yourself doing it anyway because while you don't want the short term discomfort, you do want the long term results.