Reaching Your Full Potential is Impossible if You are Trapped Behind Your Excuses
I know many people who hate things in their lives: They hate their job. They hate that they can’t get in shape. They hate that they are alone. They hate that they are stuck in life. They hate that they can’t find motivation.
Anyone could easily see how this was hurting them, but they refused to change. I ask them why they don’t make changes.
I am too old. Things might be worse. I might fail. I don’t have time. I will get rejected. I just can’t do it.
Their excuses show me their limiting beliefs. I want to give them advice and help them, but I know that they believe that the risk and effort of change is too much or impossible.
Then I stepped back and looked at myself.
It was so easy to see the excuses and limiting beliefs in others, so I started wondering what were my own limiting beliefs that were holding me back?
I Examined my Own Excuses
As I wrote before, I did a deep self-assessment to help better understand the underlying programming causing me to self-sabotage.
As part of this, I looked at my excuses: What did I tell people who questioned me about the progress of building my own business? What had I told them about past endeavors that I was no longer chasing or that I had quit?
I realized that I was only telling part of the truth when I told others my excuses: I needed more research. I didn’t have enough resources. I needed more time. Other things required my attention.
These excuses were true, but there was a lot I left unsaid.
I didn’t tell them about my concerns and fears. I didn’t tell them how these kept me from progressing. I didn’t tell them about how I kept researching, rewriting, and rethinking everything. I didn’t tell them that I had gotten used to my ways and was reluctant to change.
I never really understood some of my answers until I did a deep self-assessment.
My self-assessment helped me to see that I had fears and limiting beliefs caused by things in my past that were still affecting me. Once I better understood this, I was better able to face my fears and challenge them.
Facing Your Own Excuses
If you want to move forward with your own life, you need to examine your excuses.
First, identify the excuses you tell others or yourself about not taking steps that you know would help your life. Next, dig deep and ask if the excuses are only part of the truth or the whole truth. If you want to make significant change in your life, you have to be completely honest with yourself.
After you have identified your excuses, validate them. By validating them, you lessen their potence. Are you really too old? Do you really need more research? Have others, similar to yourself, been able to achieve success? What if you do try and fail, what would be the worst outcome?
Ask yourself what you need to do to overcome them and what would be the first step?
The First Step Towards Overcoming Your Excuses
Create a first step that you can take each day to attack your excuse. Make it easy but significant.
If you are out of shape, what can you do each and every day to start getting in shape? Go for a daily walk? Reduce the amount of carbs you eat? Do a 5-minute stretching routine?
If you are working on creating your own business, what is one significant thing you can do to move you forward each day? Publish a new article? Create video content? Reply to comments?
No matter what, each and every day you attack your fears and weaknesses, is a day closer you get to where they will be insignificant. Come to terms with your excuses and remove yourself from you self-made prison.
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