With enough motivation, we could learn a second language on our own. We all have access to tools like duolingo, and I think this is where something like Clubhouse could come in, but how many people actually do that?

MIT and other well-known higher education providers have free online courses where you can learn anything you want really.

The reason we don’t? We need an excuse to do so.

In my area of Japan there is a local teacher who has a log house where every month people get together and play live music. What better excuse to learn how to play an instrument?

Oftentimes when Japanese people meet me, they say they should pick up their English again. What more excuse do you need to start practicing than meeting another English speaker (including someone with your same native language!)?

Gyms are also the perfect example. Gyms are there to not only give people the motivation to get fit, but an excuse to do so.

The place I feel this the most though is definitely with Yamabushi training. Yamabushi training gives people, without really realizing it, a really good excuse to get out into nature. Nature is there already, nothing is stopping you from getting out there, but with Yamabushi training, you get to experience another side of nature that takes you back to your childhood, a time before the modern world seeped its way into your mind. That for me is as good an excuse as any to get out into nature.

What’s your excuse?