"Is your lack of success due to reasons, or is it due to excuses?"

This is the question that was posed to me in my daily motivational quote.It's a great question. I remember when my dad passed away, I shared this sentiment with my friend John when he paid a shiva call. He asked"so what's next for you?". My response was ,"John, now we find out if dad was my reason for being stuck or my excuse!".16 years later,here's what I know. In either case it does not matter. We all have reasons. We all have excuses. We also have the power to change the course of our own destiny.
By the time my day ended yesterday I was pretty despondent.All of the good positive energy that I felt building in me over the weekend seemed to have been let out.If you can imagine a balloon filled with air,it was not like somebody just popped it. Instead, it felt like when you hold the open end and let the air out slowly. You know that annoying sound that it makes as the air squeezes through the open end and your fingers. That's how my day felt. By the time night fall came, my balloon of energy was empty and that annoying noise lingered in my head.I went to bed feeling beat up and kicked around.Much like a flattened balloon I felt limp and useless.I opted to not sit and write last night. It would have been forced and uninspired.Instead, I ate crap I really didn't need or want, once again resorting to behaviors that sedated me in the past.Which led to eventually beating myself up some more ,recreating that same old vicious cycle.
Today a new day is here. I struggled with what to wear today. Yesterday, instead of donning my work uniform (dress shirt and tie) I chose to wear a sweatshirt. It was warm and comfortable. Today, I thought that might be nice as well. I planned to be at my desk all day. I had no intentions of leaving my works pace or seeing anyone today.I took out a dress shirt. I hung up that same dress shirt. I found a nice fleece hoodie. I threw it back on the pile and went back to the closet. I took down the fore mentioned shirt, walked into my room, walked back to the closet and hung it back up. I did this 3 or 4 more times before finally deciding to stick with the plan. I am working today.....the shirt and tie goes on!
Period!
Next I committed to getting back to what got me here. After cleaning out my emails, after answering my first few barrages of texts,after putting up dinner, and after following up on a few phone calls, I cleared everything else off of my desk and sat down to write.My time! My space! My life!
No excuses. No reasons. Nothing mattered . It was with in my power to choose what I wanted for me. I wanted to write to you. 
That's it....That's all I've got today!
Now I can get on with the rest of my day.
I put on my shirt and tie. I decided to take control. I made the choice to write. 
Now its Hi Ho time.
Hi Ho hi-ho....it's off to work we go!

(I bet that will be stuck in your head the rest of the day!)