For a lot of you, November is a busy month. I had a conversation with a friend yesterday discussing all the reasons No Excuses November happened to have occurred in the worst time ever for me.

This month my hours increased at work. This month I’m running 35+ miles per week for marathon training. This month my parents move out of my childhood home. This month I have various “social obligations” to attend to (e.g. day drinking, night drinking, day into night drinking). So things are pretty busy even without my NoExNo goal looming.

Hearing this, my friend told me, “You don’t have to do this. Don’t kill yourself because you know people are watching. It’s okay if one night you don’t write 4 pages. No one needs to know.”

But that’s not the point of this at all. I’m not doing this because people are watching (hello, people!), I’m doing this because I NEED to. I need to learn that it’s possible to write and make progress even when it feels like I can never catch a break. Even when I can’t keep my eyes open. Even when all I want to do is watch every episode of “Arrested Develpment.” Twice. Even when I think that every word I type is rubbish.

What is the main obstacle you are facing this month? Are you overwhelmed? Or are you inspired by the challenge?

There is never going to be a month better than this one because this is the month you’ve chosen to start something. In fact, I think it is the best month for that very reason. If you can accomplish something when things are crazy, you have NO excuse not to do it any other time.

Now is probably the worst time to start something. But it’s also the BEST time.

You’ve started something this month. Now finish it.

I am BLOWN AWAY by the response No Excuses November has elicited. This email is going out to 38 people. Yesterday morning, I hadn’t even written the introduction email I sent out yesterday. I didn’t think that so many people, just like me, were tired of making excuses. You are getting this email because you want to make a change in your life. And if you’re my mom, you are getting this email because I shamed you into participating because your 80 year old mother was doing it (hi Mimi!).

No matter the reason you decided to reach out and ask to be added to this list of NoExNos (that’s a working abbrev), you have decided to make November a month without excuses.

Have you thought of what you want to commit to do (or not do) this month? While some of the people I talked to were still undecided about what they wanted to accomplish this month, a LOT of you knew exactly what you needed to do. Like you had been sitting on that ONE thing you keep letting slip away into Excuse Land (the place where dreams go to die). So if you haven’t chosen your goal yet, let your gut decide. Try not to over-think it. Make it simple. Make it tangible. Make it count.

Today someone asked me what the point of this was. Wouldn’t we have the same excuses now that we did two days ago and will have in December?

Yes. We will always have excuses. November isn’t this special, magical month. Unless we make it that way. This month, we are testing what we can do in a month without excuses.

What if you went to the gym even when you were tired? What if you edited your essay until 2 in the morning on a work night? What if you stuck to your running goals even when it was raining? What if you wrote 4 pages of a screenplay with pen and paper because your computer doesn’t have enough memory?

You will always have excuses. But let’s see what happens when we think about why we’re REALLY making them. Are we afraid to fail? Are we afraid to succeed? Are we just lazy? Let this month teach you about WHAT YOU WANT and WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF.

In The War of Art, screenwriter Steven Pressfield wrote:

“The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed. Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.”

What are you waiting for?

It’s time to give up on giving up.