EXCUSES

Excuses . . excuses . . excuses . .

I think of excuses like a “get out of jail free” card . . you can use that ONE excuse, but you can only use it once . . right ??

I was thinking last week . . about the excuses that i’ve made in my life that have stopped me from heading in the direction to where i want to go.

We ALL have different reasons why we make excuses . . but we ALL make them . .

Why? Because they’re so AVAILABLE to us . . we can pretty much use them on EVERYTHING.

Why we can’t work . . why we’re skipping the gym . . why we went off our nutrition plans . . why we didn’t wash the dishes . . why we ordered take out instead of making dinner . .

They don’t even have to be good ones . . but our minds will ACCEPT it.

Thing is though . . these little excuses are the REASON why we don’t get what we want . . or why we don’t achieve our goals sooner.

Where do excuses come from ???

For me . . my parents probably played a big part in it . . i’m not blaming them . . but how you grow up and how you raised is a BIG part of what you become . . unless you make the effort to CHANGE yourself.

My whole life . . my parents have been nothing but motivating & accepting of EVERYTHING that i’ve done . . BUT it’s HOW they motivate.

They would tell me what i fantastic writer i am . . how talented i am . . i’m a great singer . .  i’m motivated . . BUT that is all in the present tense . . it’s not a push in the direction i NEED to go . .

So through that i’ve always been satisfied with having the POTENTIAL to do things . . but never really doing them.

Why? Probably because of fear . . because of failing . . of being wrong about something and having to get up off the ground again . .

So i made excuses to myself and everybody else so i wouldn’t have to TRY.

It’s like suffering from a disease . . it only gets worse.

The problem is that excuses become repetitive . . and you don’t just stop after one . . you’re on a fuckin roll . .  and repetitiveness brings us HABIT.

BAD HABIT.

Hell . . excuses started back in the Garden of Eden when Adam ate all the fruit and used Eve as the excuse . .

So, the MAIN reason we make excuses is because we’re AFRAID of what will happen if we fail at something . . to protect ourselves from getting hurt . . that EGO that we have as humans . . that we spend our LIVES developing . . we will do anything to protect it.

FEAR OF SUCCESS is a big one too . . fear of what will happen if we actually DO succeed . . the big changes that will take over our lives . . will we be strong enough to handle them? will we change as a person?

How do we stop these lil suckers?

I’m not gonna lie . . it’s something you’ll be accountable for, for your whole life . . everything decision you make daily . . no doubt an excuse will show itself . . but slowly . . those excuses will realise they don’t have a place in you.

1. CATCH YOURSELF OUT . . write down all the instances in the past week that you’ve allowed yourself to make excuses . . however small. You’re going to have to dig deep for this one . . because most of the time we don’t even THINK about it . . and we take on those excuses as facts.

2. LOOK AT THE PROGRESS OF YOUR LIFE. How have those excuses above impacted your life . . what are some BIG things that you stopped yourself from achieving . . this step is important . . until you come to terms with the damage these excuses are doing . . you’ll have no REASON to change.

3. DEATHBED . . Imagine yourself on your deathbed RIGHT NOW. All those headaches . . and excuses . . it’s too cold . . too hot . . too wet . . they seem like BULLSHIT now huh ??

4. ACCEPT THAT YOU CAN CHANGE. . You need to realize that all these excuses . . they’re all out of fear . . and ALLOW yourself to make the appropriate changes to being the best you can be.

5. CHOOSE TO BE DIFFERENT IN 5 YEARS TIME . . What can you do TODAY to be a better version of yourself in 5 years time . . are you in a better place than you were 5 years ago ??  If not, WHY ?? What excuses have stopped you ??

6. LISTEN TO YOUR EXCUSES. Everytime an opportunity comes up . . however small . . either write a list or make a mental list of possible excuses as to why you can’t . . you will find . . that NONE of them outweigh the ONE reason why you can . . and that ONE reason is because you DESERVE good things to come your way . . and you’re going to do WHATEVER it takes to get them.

Excuses are like training wheels . . only when we LET THEM GO . . can we REALLY begin to live.

What excuses do you make to yourself ??