What’s the reason you have for not pursuing your most authentic dream? Whatever this dream is, in your life or career, you probably have a reason it hasn’t happened yet. But if you look behind the reasons, you might just discover that they could be reclassified as excuses—thoughts you are embracing that sabotage your dreams. Excuses are born of pessimistic thinking style and fixed mindset. Now, I’m not trying to beat you up about your excuses. I want to help you break free of them so you can go to the next level. Whatever you want to call them—excuses or reasons—they are in the way. And you are the only one who can demand that they go.
So what’s your excuse? Is it a lack of time? Money? Is it that person who is always tearing you down? Is the dream just too hard? To complex? Too much of a commitment? Maybe your excuse is a lack of education or experience. Or perhaps if you just had more contacts or more friends of fewer obligations or weighed less or….
You get the point. Excuses allow us to justify our lack of progress. They can even bring you sympathy. They let you off the hook. But the truth is, when there is something you were meant to do, you’ll never truly be off the hook. You must do it, which means you must let go of your excuses. That means facing your fear—whether it is fear of success and all the expectations that come with it or fear of failure and all the disappointments or embarrassment that come with it,
Whatever you fear, the good news is that you can muster the courage to conquer it. Choose to let go of all excuses for why you cannot have what you want in life. Coach yourself with these four excuses shattering questions.
- What’s my excuse?
- What does this excuse give me permission to do (or not do)?
- If I could no longer use this excuse, what would I have to do instead?
- Why don’t I just do that now?
When you drop your excuses, you discover that the bottom line is you can choose to pursue your dreams—or not. You can live life full or you can live it small. Living fully takes courage. Courage is a choice. The choice is yours.
