“Excuses are doubts hiding in disguise.” – Bryan Hutchinson
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/1Year1000Challenge
What excuses are you (am I) using to hide from your dream? Let’s make a list.
- Not enough time.
- I don’t have any ideas.
- Not enough money.
- My Day Job gets in the way of my Dream Job.
- I have a family.
- I’m too old.
- I’m too young.
-
I don’t have any support from my family and/or friends.
Nice list. They all suck. You and I both know these excuses aren’t valid. You and I both know people who have used these excuses at one time or another, and at some point they overcame their excuse.
For me, excuses leave me on the couch. Usually they leave me on the couch watching TV. What a complete waste of time!! Please don’t get me wrong, TV can provide great entertainment. The problem I have with TV is the mindless hours spent simply watching whatever is on. As much as I love watching Jason Bourne in action, do I really need to see one of the Bourne movies for the 25th time? Probably not.
Here’s how I typically justify TV watching in my own mind. I get home from work at 8:30 on a Monday night. I’ve worked an 11 hour day. I’ve earned myself 3 hours of TV time. Surely I’m too tired and worn out mentally to do anything productive.
Or, how about a Saturday afternoon? Instead of working on a home repair, or going for a bike ride, I justify an afternoon of watching sports by telling myself I need a break. A break? A break from what???
Excuses, excuses, excuses. They run rampant in our lives (at least mine anyway).
So, as I bemoan the lack of available time to write a blog post, write a book, read a book, exercise to lose 40 pounds, spend time reading the Bible and praying, working on my side-hustle to create my Dream Job, etc, I need to remind myself of the quote at the start of this post. I need to think about why I doubt myself and my ability.
I also need to figure out who would be willing to hold me accountable for my actions (or lack of action).
The easy solution for accountability would be to make sure my wife and I are on the same page. I should be sharing my dreams and plans with her. She’s a part of the plan. She should be aware of my progress.
She may get sick of hounding me though. As much as she wants me to succeed, I’m sure she doesn’t want to create more tension in our house.
My suggestion? Find a group of like-minded people who are willing to call you out when you don’t hit the mark on progress toward your goal. They won’t put up with your excuses.
(In a future post I’ll spend some time on how to find these people.)
Do you have a set batch of excuses you use when you don’t accomplish things you want to? What are they? Please share in the comments.
Mine is exhaustion, and I am a serial procrastinating perfectionist.
Knowing what you do, I understand the exhaustion excuse. Most of the time it’s probably valid for you. And I can definitely relate to the “serial procrastinating perfectionist” issue. Sometimes I should hire someone to hit “publish” for me.
My excuses:
– “My muscles need a break.” – Yeah, they do. So work the ones you didn’t work yesterday, not skip it altogether.
– “I can’t do my dream because I don’t have enough in savings.” – I’m really wresting with this one. There’s risk and there’s stupidity. I don’t think it’s bad to plan for the worst, especially as a single person with no spouse income to fall back on in an emergency. But then people get on to me and say “it’s not a risk it you plan for it.”
– “It’s just one cookie.” – IT”S NEVER ONE COOKIE. Stupid Girl Scout goodness….
It’s NEVER just one cookie. NEVER.
A list huh….
To tired.
I’ll never learn that.
I’d better do this first.
Let me help you with that.
I wasn’t doing anything right now.
Not good enough.
They won’t like it.
I won’t do it till it’s perfect.
I love the “helping” excuses! “Let me help you with that.” I’ve been known to fall into those too.
Those excuses will keep on coming (and you will find ways to justify them) until you hit a certain pain point that will motivate you to make a change, then TV won’t hold power anymore. And when you hit that pain point, you will connect with your WHY which will power you forward. It will drive you like fuel on fire. You can have others keep you accountable and push you but until you hit that internal fire you will still find ways to justify excuses.
Looking forward to the fuel hitting the fire!
Preach It brother, preach it! Great post today.
Thanks! More to come.
Yes! Now, get off your butt and chase those dreams.
Ha!