There's an old Yiddish proverb that goes, "If you don't want to do something, one excuse is as good as another." In other words, if you're NOT doing something, what does it matter why?

We recently polled our friends on Twitter for a list of the most common excuses for NOT making ideas happen. Not surprisingly, the response was overwhelming. We can all make a list of excuses as long as our arm for why we're not taking action.

So what's the point of us listing them out here? Reason No. 1: To face facts. If we recognize the patterns we fall into, we can change them. Reason No. 2: To invalidate them. As an antidote to inaction, we've provided a counter-argument for each excuse. Don't commiserate, instigate!

Common excuses for NOT making ideas happen:

1. I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME.
Extra time, like money, rarely just materializes out of thin air. We have to work for it. If "finding creative time" is a struggle for you, consider getting proactive about carving it out, and doing the most important work first. (...)

"Is digital technology changing the way we think?" Twelve years ago I proposed this question as the subject of my thesis, it was rejected on the basis that it was not an issue concerning to the science of Cultural Anthropology (uh?). Had it been accepted and it is very likely I would have carried on to get my degree, it was not meant to be. Nevertheless my fascination for the subject never stopped. Today -having lived a thousand lives in one, I would probably reverse the subject to something like "How is the cognitive process changing that is it reflected in digital technology?".

Below is the introduction to an article written by John Naughton and published by The Guardian online a couple of weeks ago:

"American writer Nicholas Carr's claim that the internet is not only shaping our lives but physically altering our brains has sparked a lively and ongoing debate, says John Naughton. Below, a selection of writers and experts offer their opinion" (...)

All artists want to create massive, powerful works to be remembered by. We have visions of our own "Sistine Chapel" that we want to tackle before we die. The problem with epic projects is that they're often started, but rarely finished. This is precisely why we celebrate massive works: they don't come along very often.

The Sistine Chapel took four years of painting the most difficult form of fresco -buon fresco- on rickety scaffolding, while bending over backwards. (Even Michelangelo was suspicious that his enemies purposely gave the project such a massive scope just to see him fail.1)

Finishing masterpieces is daunting. Over time, motivation and desire fade unless we make deliberate strides toward our goals every single day. But getting into the mindset of being deliberate with our work is a paradigm shift. Being deliberate means that when we are working, we are always working on something with an end goal in mind.