Adapting, to me this is the opposite of making excuses. How often does something happen that causes us to miss a workout or not perform at our jobs as well as we would like? I don’t know about you, but I know I can always find an excuse if I want to. Excuses can fool a lot of people in the short term but eventually people catch on, conversely we internally start to believe our excuses are true the more we use them.

Adapting on the other hand is recognizing that there are obstacles that might slow you up, but are just that, obstacles. Obstacles are not barriers, they are not impenetrable. It might take longer and perhaps be a bit harder but an obstacle should not prevent us from getting to where we want to go. Adaptation allows us to keep the destination but change the route when we face obstacles instead of giving up and using it as an excuse.

I often thing about adapting the same way I think about a detour. I would prefer a straight shot to my destination, but sometimes that is not possible and we have to take a detour. It takes longer and I am usually frustrated when I see the “detour” sign but I then accept the fact that I have to go a different way and make the best of it. Most of the time detours are a pain and just prolong us from getting to where we want to go, but sometimes we discover new things on the detour. If we keep our eyes open we might just learn something or even find a new, faster way to get where we want to go.

This morning I had to adapt. My wife wasn’t feeling good and my son woke up earlier than anticipated so the workout I had planned was not going to happen. I had two choices, I could not workout at all because I had to watch my son or I could adapt and figure out a way. I choose the latter and did a full body circuit with some adjustable dumbbells I own and my bodyweight. Was it the best workout? No. Was the quality not as good as I had planned? No, but it was a way better workout compared to making an excuse and skipping.

Side Note: As I wrote this I realized that maybe I need to give up the word “because.” It seems this word might be at the root of all excuses. What do you think?