We all make excuses for not being at our best
When confronted with a significant challenge or goal, one of the things we all do as humans, is make excuses for not being at our best. Here are five excuses to be mindful of that keep us small and stop us from striving for levels of achievement that we’re all capable of.
- “I can’t do it, so why try?”
When we start out at something, we’re never 100 per cent capable of it. This is why effort is so important because effort allows us to break through barriers. When we realise that if we were capable of something, we’d already be doing it, we appreciate and accept our current position. Although at this point we’re actually not able to do what we want, we are in a position to allow our brain to strategise and make plans around developing our skills to do it. We’re also in the process of recognising and removing any barriers that hold us back.
- “What if I fail?”
Instead, consider “What if you don’t?” When we use our fear of failure as an excuse not to try something, we never allow ourselves to find out more about ourselves .. about our limits, or our capabilities. Attempting something, despite the fact that we might fail, allows us to identify our limitations and get to work on improving our capabilities. Success and failure are both imposters. As soon as we put effort in, they’ll come and go with equal regularity.
- “It’s not worth the hassle.”
A good way to think about this excuse, is to consider what the alternative is? What if we do nothing? If we sit still, life runs us over. As for that hassle we’re avoiding, well that hassle creates the greatest stories. All our successes, and our failures for that matter, contribute to our story. Stories allow us to identify with purposeful struggles. The bigger the burden, the more rewarding the outcome and the more colourful our story becomes – we live life through the struggles.
- “I’ll get to it later.”
When we use this as an excuse, we lack urgency and purpose. Surely the purpose of our life has to be – to get better, full-stop. There’s no reason why we can’t do something right now to move us forward. Pick something to do tomorrow, and get it done.
- “I’ll try, but…..”
This thinking sees us making excuses before we even start. Typically, we do this to soften the blow, in case we fail at climbing our mountain. This is a flawed mental strategy as it keeps our efforts small and sees us self-sabotage before we even start.
Be mindful of these five excuses that we all experience as patterns in our head. Not only do they get in the way of us realising our goals, but they also get in the way of us feeling good about ourselves. When we remove these excuses, we allow space for us to be more of who we should be, ourselves.
