It’s Sunday morning, again
“I’m not ignoring the news. But nor am I allowing it to define and control how I spend my days.” Nick Usborne, Copywriter [ 1 ]
It’s Sunday morning, again.
You’ve slept your 7 hours,
woke up,
turned the shower nubs on,
gave yourself a morning scrub,
then turned the nubs off.
You checked your profile in the mirror,
put on the clothes you had picked from your bedroom’s closet,
started to think about your day,
and convinced yourself you were in for a good one.
Walking to the kitchen,
you’ve got hit by the news:
you had a party last night.
Friends came over,
and left you with a pantry full of glasses and plates.
“Ouff, I forgot about this.
But it’s ok.
I’ll take care of it.
Right before I get the rest of the apartment ready for the coming week.”
Lifting the blinds and opening the backdoor
you got hit by another news:
it was already warm and sunny outside.
Then,
this crossed your mind:
“You know what?
It’s been a while since I’ve sit outside.
Had a coffee, had breakfast,
read the papers or checked my favorite blogs.”
Looking back at the pantry:
“The dishes can wait,
I think.
I don’t feel like doing it anyway.
To relax and take in some rays,
for a while,
sounds way more fun.”
In the split second that followed, you made your decision.
To listen to, and do, what the excuse says.
Rather than follow through on your initial plan.
It’s Sunday morning again.
but it already looks like it’s gonna be one of those days.
Where you end up feeling bad about yourself,
for having done everything else but what you had in mind,
somehow deliberately.
“And no one forced me to sit on the fire escape, all morning. Or twisted my arm for it. (…) Damn, I hate myself for this!”
* * *
Excuses tend to pop when we least expect them.
So it seems.
Even when we have the best intentions
on what we want to achieve.
Like “getting our place cleaned up”.
But when we scratch them,
and start looking under their surface,
excuses aren’t random in the way they pick a moment to pop up.
Most often they pop when…
the appeal to use a given-period of time “to rest or play instead of working” is bigger
than the need “to complete a task that would get us ahead on a goal”.
Like,
the appeal of “Sitting on the fire escape,
or the porch,
on a warm and sunny day.
To enjoy ourselves and get a tan.”
Instead of “Staying inside and get our hands wet and soapy.
So we can clean the glasses,
and dishes,
that looked so much better when they were filled with the booze,
and foods,
our friends brought.”
The fun part is,
excuses don’t have to define how we spend our whole days.
You can learn to spot excuses.
And understand when they’re likely to “pop up” in your own life.
Enough to come up with something else to do,
than listening to them.
Cause,
it might be Sunday morning again,
but excuses don’t have to make Monday end the same way.
Unless you like feeling trapped in a “Groundhog day” sort of loop.
You tell me.
– – References – – – –
[ 1 ] conversationalcopywriting.com/get-creative-with-chatbots/#more-5039