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🤷 Nextcuses - How to get around your own excuses.

In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 256 - Nextcuses, we wanted to talk about somethin' that crops up every month there's a Cookie Collab (Pipe a Park Collab is this Friday btw - oh, you won't be able to participate? Hold onto that thought.).

We get it - 🥺 life is lifing, the kids are screaming, the clients are screaming louder than the kids, the spouse is upset, the in-laws are coming over, and you're about .002 seconds from crying in a Target aisle. 😭

Your excuses = valid. None of those things is a lie. But all of those things are costing you business. 💪 But you can re-pattern your excuses to be more honest, and thus, more useful in understanding how you and your business work together.

✨ The "Five-Minute Rule" 

Most excuses are born from the fear of how long or difficult a task will be. 

🖐️ Tell yourself you will do the task for only five minutes. So it's not, "I'll take the twins 8-hour bootcamp on in-person cookie classes," but instead it's, "I'll start watching the Bootcamp for just 5 minutes."

• ✅ Why it works: The hardest part of any task is the transition from "doing nothing" to "doing something." Once the seal is broken, the excuse of being "too tired" or "too busy" usually fades because you’ve already started. 

🏋🏽🔥💪🏼🎧 I do this with the gym (my most hated place on earth). "I'm allowed to just drive to the gym, walk in, and leave" becomes, "Okay, find - I'll do a few exercises." We're literally tricking our brains into being productive-ish. And productive-ish is better than production-less.

✨ Practice "If-Then" Planning 

Excuses thrive with obstacles. The minute that gym parking lot is too packed? 🏎️💨 Ya girl hitting the gas right back home. And while it feels good in that minute (trust me - there is no higher high), I still didn't get my exercise in, and it'll cost me my cortisol, good sleep, and a healthy body.

The solution - if-then approach to obstacles. "If the gym is packed, I'll go for a long walk." 📸 And "If I run out of time to record a Reel for Instagram, I'll post a photo instead."

• ✅  Formula: "If [Obstacle] happens, then I will [Action]."
• ✅  Example: "If I feel too tired to work on that set after dinner, then I will set a timer for 10 minutes and just do the easiest task on my list." 

✨ Rephrase Your Language

This is my favorite one (probably because I'm most guilty of it). Excuses are masked as "can't." "I can't do the collab, "I can't record that Reel," "I can't make a website because..."

This takes the power from you and puts it on the reason (whatever comes after the "because). It makes things appear out of your control. Switch to "don't" or "choose not to" to take that power.

• ❌ Instead of: "I can't do the Pipe a Park collab because I recovering."
• ✅ Try: "I am choosing not to participate in the Pipe a Park collab. I'm tired from a recent surgery, and I don't feel like it right now."

Why this works: Taking ownership of the choice you make helps you realize you are in control. If you don't like the way the "choice" feels, you are more likely to change the behavior. 🤔 You may think, "Well, I am recovering, but going for a walk might be a nice experience, and I have a frozen cookie I could thaw." 

In this podcast, we cover 2 more approaches to turn your excuses into next-cuses. Tune in to learn about "frictionless starts" and "pay-off audits." 

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 256 - N