Throughout my years as an entrepreneur, counselor, psychotherapist and now a true purpose coach and heart felt business mentor, I’ve discovered that no matter how hard some people are working to make their lives great, no matter how much they have accomplished, or how good they feel about themselves, there is almost always one area of their lives where they feel powerless to create the next level of success. If we examine this area, we will undoubtedly find one or more EXCUSES—-excuses which hold more power over them than their commitment to their stated goal.
Our excuses are automatic; they take NO thinking or creativity. We all have them, we all use them, and we all pretend that we are rendered powerless by them. Some of our excuses are obvious and some are so subtle that it takes a very keen eye to expose them. Some scream their limiting messages loud enough for all to hear; others whisper quietly in our ears: “It’s not my fault.” “I couldn’t help it.” “My family needed me.” “I need ________ to do their part before I can do mine.” “I can’t do it.” “It’s too big.” “I don’t have enough money.” “I’m too stressed out.” “I have a headache.” “Business is bad all over.” “I’ll do it next week.” “I’ll start tomorrow.”
Excuses like these are the proverbial back door that we leave open in case the pursuit of our goals is harder than we anticipated and we want to take a time-out. They are literally our attempt to “excuse” ourselves from fulfilling our objectives and behaving like the responsible, powerful, creative human beings that we are. Excuses transfer ALL of our inner power over to outer circumstances and strip away our ability to create RESULTS. They sabotage our dreams for the future and keep us tethered to the past. When allowed to camouflage as the truth, our excuses have the ability to penetrate our best-laid plans and rob us of having a life we love.
Excuses are just excuses not to begin something, not to succeed, and not to go beyond your “comfort zone”. YES, going outside of your “comfort zone” isn’t easy and you will have to endure some short-term pain, but isn’t it worth it? Don’t you owe it to yourself to get rid of the excuses that have you stopping one foot short of the finish line? Or worse, those excuses have crippled you so much that you haven’t even entered the race at all!
It’s time for me to take off the kid gloves and give it to you straight. You will NEVER achieve anything in your life if you don’t stop making excuses for why you’re not as wealthy as you want to be OR why you’re overweight OR why you can’t find someone to share the rest of your life with. The first step in becoming successful in any area of life is to actually conceive and think of what goals are worthy to be pursued. The next step is to actually convince yourself that you can achieve your goals. However, you must first make a decision with the intention that enough is enough! You’re simply “sick and tired” of your life that is clearly not working for you and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your goals.
If you look back to a time when you produced breakthrough results (whether in your personal life or in your career) you will most likely find that your success was won because you didn’t allow yourself to use the excuses that had stopped you in the past. You could see them, and were perhaps momentarily seduced by them. But, ultimately you chose not to use them. You consciously or unconsciously declared that area of your life as an “excuse-free” zone. While you may have had moments when your progress was halted by your excuses, in the end you remained more committed to your vision than to your reasons, excuses, and justifications. And, if you really look, you’ll see that having a current vision for your life – one that deeply inspires you right here and now – is the best antidote to the chronic use of excuses.
By taking the action steps below, prepare for the energy surge that will soon follow.
Take Action Now!
1. This week, I challenge you to take on the area of your life where you’re not making the progress you desire and identify the top FIVE excuses you use to justify your current reality.
2. Remind yourself that at every moment you have a choice to align with your greatest vision for your life or to align with your excuses. Then stand up tall, take back your power, and consciously claim this area of your life as an “excuse-free” zone.
When you look back at your life and see what you accomplished it will be well worth it…. YOU CAN make it happen!
