Let’s talk excuses. Everyone has them for all different reasons, whether it’s about exercise, work, cleaning the house, losing weight, or meeting friends for dinner. We are all guilty of using excuses to make us feel better and to help us get out of events. But for the love of all that is good in the world, we have to stop with the excuses. We have to stop telling ourselves these lies. We have to stop teaching our kids that excuses are okay. Excuses are NOT okay. Excuses won’t give you that amazing life. Excuses won’t get you that next
promotion or that amazing body. Excuses won’t help you get anywhere actually.
Excuses make you lazy. Excuses make you complacent in all aspects of your life. Excuses drag you down and don’t make you productive. Excuses suck the life right out of you.
The bottom line? Excuses won’t get you anywhere. Did you hear that?
EXCUSES WON’T GET YOU ANYWHERE. (Sorry for the all-caps, but some things are just all-cap worthy and this is one of them.)
So, why do we make up excuses? Because they make us feel better, of course. They allow us to pawn off the real reason of why we didn’t do something so that we don’t have to take the blame. You know, so that we don’t have to admit to failing with yet something else.
Excuses makes us feel better, right? There’s always another reason of why something got in our way and prevented us from achieving what we wanted. It’s never our fault. Oh no, that would be too much. It’s a million times easier to put the blame on someone or something else.
You know why you aren’t getting that next promotion? You know why you haven’t gone for a run in 2 months? You know why you don’t talk to "so and so" about your business? It’s because you don’t want it bad enough. Yep,
I went there. When times got hard, you stopped. You can say every excuse in the book, but the fact is that you gave up when it wasn’t as easy anymore.
How’s that for some tough love?
There are very few things in life that are easy to achieve. If your goals in life are easy, chances are they aren’t big enough. You might want the perks of the big promotion, but you don’t want to put in the work that it takes to actually get there. You might want to tone up your legs by running, but you don’t want to put in the work that it takes. You might want "so and so" to join your team, but you don’t want to step outside of your comfort zone to actually talk to her about it. You just don’t want it bad enough. And when you don’t want it bad enough, you make up excuses.
Have you ever looked at someone, maybe a friend or a co-worker, and just thought,
“Man, they have it easy”? It’s as if they got from Point A to Point B without even breaking a sweat. While it may look that way on the outside, it took work for that person to get to where they are.
Or what about that new band on the radio that seemed to come out of nowhere. One day you had no idea that the band even existed and the next day they are all over every radio station. Must have been some good luck, right?
Wrong.
Nothing happens overnight when hard work is involved. You know why that band finally made it on the radio and why your friend got success?
It’s because they both went for it. They didn’t make excuses and they didn’t hold back. They knew what they wanted and they did whatever it took to get there. Sure, it was hard at times,
but they never gave up. They never let “it’s too hard” get in the way.
Are you thinking to yourself right now,
“Yeah, but I have a family to take care of and there’s just not enough time for me to do that and to go after my dreams”?
Well guess what? We are all busy. Every single one of us is busy, whether it’s a demanding job, kids, or spouses. Sure, some of us may be busier than others but we all have things going on in our lives that we have to take care of. Life is busy, so you have to prioritize and then just do it.
You want to lose weight even though your husband wants to go out to dinner? Pick better and healthier choices while you are out. Plan ahead and look at the menu so you know exactly what you are going to order once you get there. Or tell your husband you need him to be more supportive of you and would like to have dinner be at home for the next month.
You want to exercise daily? Set your alarm for early morning and put it on the other side of the room so that you can’t hit snooze. Make it so that you actually have to get up and walk to it. Have your clothes ready so you can put them on and go.
You want a promotion? Get up early before the kids so that you can have quiet time to put in the work needed for your promotion. I'm up 30 minutes before I have to be so I can do 30 minutes of work before the rush of getting ready to leave the house.
You want "so and so" to join your business? Set up a coffee date with her and ask. If you don’t ask, you will never know.
Please stop making excuses. If you really wanted it bad enough in the first place, you would do whatever it took to achieve it. It really is that easy. You would put in the work needed to do whatever it is that you wanted. It’s not that someone else had a better advantage; it’s that you quit when times got tough and that’s when others kept on going.
And that right there is the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people.
Successful people battle with the same issues and hurdles as everyone else, but they don’t let it stop them. They keep on going. If they don’t know how to do something, they learn. If something isn’t working, they try something else. They are productive with their time. They put in the work needed. They do not use obstacles to fuel their excuses. Instead of letting obstacles keep them down, they see obstacles as challenges and rise above them.
Successful people do not give up.
Think about your life and what you really want. If you really want something, stop with the excuses. Don’t be scared to fail. Many successful people fail over and over again. Failure doesn’t reflect on you; failure is an event. It’s something that happens and that you learn from. If you don’t fail, you aren’t learning. Be brave. Go after your dreams. Set goals,
crush them, and then make more. Be true to yourself and what it is that you really want. Put in the effort. Be consistent. Have passion. Think about why you started and what the end result was/is that you want/wanted. But, most importantly, never, ever, ever give up.
xoxo
Ang
The business card also stops me from getting mascara smudges all over my eyeshadow!” – Jennifer
