Here's Why You Need To Stop Making Excuses
“I don't have time.”
“It's too much.”
“It's too risky.”
Do any of these sound familiar? At one time or another, you’ve probably used one of these excuses. Whether it’s putting off a difficult task that is one of many on your journey to success or it's not diving into something you know you should do, we are all guilty of making excuses.
Where are some of the most common areas we catch ourselves making excuses?
One of the top reasons we make excuses is because we are afraid to be embarrassed and we are afraid to fail. We make an excuse not to step out with boldness because we are afraid of what others will say or think about us. Many of our fears about others are often unfounded. We think our friends and families have thoughts about us that aren’t even real or that they will say things that they’ve actually never said before!
It’s also common to make excuses because we are afraid that we will neglect our personal responsibilities, like being a parent. We feel we can’t put in extra work or take on a new project because of the guilt we already feel not being able to give 100% to everything we do.
At the heart, we have a fear of the unknown which can cause us to make excuses. We aren’t sure if we will fail or succeed, if people will approve of our work, or what will happen to our relationships.
Do any of these resonate with you?
So how do we stop making excuses?
Israelmore Ayivor once said, “You can dance in the storm. Don't wait for the rain to be over before because it might take too long. You can do it now. Wherever you are, right now, you can start, right now; this very moment.”
In this spirit, it helps to overcome excuses by verbalizing our fears. If we are anxious about what others think, it helps to actually say those things out loud. When we take time to articulate and verbalize them, we have the opportunity to work through those thoughts and see they aren’t as detrimental as we thought they were.
Getting rid of the excuses also takes discipline in stopping the comparison of ourselves to others. In this day and age, we have constant and overflowing access to other people’s lives and it can be so easy to be in a constant game of comparison––even with people we don’t even know! Don’t let people who you have no real connection with dictate your life and your choices.
Stop the comparison game!
To help stop the overwhelm that can lead to excuses, it also helps to set small, attainable goals. If you find your end game to be too big to know where to start, set a daily or weekly goal instead. As long as you’re moving forward in some way, and not giving excuses as to why you can’t do anything, there is nothing wrong with setting goals that are smaller in nature.
While there are plenty of reasons and kinds of excuses we can all make, you can choose today to end the battle. Take some time taking a personal inventory of your go-to excuses and make a game plan on verbalizing your fears so you take away their power.
As always, I’m here to help.
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