Make excuses or make changes, the choice is up to you. If you are the type of person who is a “maybe” sometime, you might fall into the excuses trap. Our society makes it super easy to make excuses for everything. Some people make excuses that are logical to many yet still make them a victim to preventing goals to be met.
Excuses come in one of two types: those that contain blame, and those that invite accountability. Making excuses is a behavior believe it or not. You have the ability to change your behavior but it takes time and conscious commitment.To overcome your excuses, you must first admit that you are making them. Then begins the work of identifying them. Yes, we all make excuses for things and you need to be honest with yourself in order to make changes to fix it. Most of the time, you may not even know that you are making an excuse.
Why do we make excuses? Ask yourself if you are able to recognize the reasons why you have delayed taking action. Fear is frequently the underlying culprit: fear of failure, of embarrassment, of success, of change, and of uncertainty. Fear is not the only problem, and being scared is all too often used as just another excuse. There are also lack of willpower and self-discipline, which lead to lost focus and procrastination.
Next, is it a priority to you? If it is not, admit that to yourself. If something is important you will keep pushing towards that however if you are not interested in something, don’t try to force yourself to be. Saying yest to someone might hurt someone’s feeling, but more often than not it’s really about avoiding confrontations. Or you don’t want to have to admit that other things are more important to you. The more often you pick the desire to win over the fear of losing, the more power you take back from the excuse making habits we all have built over the years.
Do you have energy suckers in your life? Think about all the things in your life that you do that may not provide you satisfaction but in fact take away from your life. We all have 24 hours in our lives and it’s up to you when you decide who is worth your time. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s only when you embrace everything you are and aren’t, that you will discover your true potential.
Here is the biggie, comparing yourself to others. It makes it super easy to quit on yourself when you look at others and what they have accomplished. There will always be someone, somewhere who as accomplished more. Compare yourself only to your own reflection. There is no one else in this world that can do a better job at being you than you can.
Learn to take the excuses out of your life because it diminishes your confidence. Imagine where you could be if eliminated one excuse per week for one year straight. It’s the small, consistent progressions that get the results, not the big tasks that you do every once in a while. Just remember this, if it’s important you will find a way, if not you will find an excuse!