by

Rich Malachy and Colin Ngai

Time is incredibly precious, and every second you waste is a missed opportunity. Personally, I find that I go through stages of consciousness and unconsciousness.

Not every moment of the day can be conscious because we’ll just be bogged down by mental fatigue.

However, I find that I would drown myself in unconsciousness in order to forget about my problems and hope they magically disappear.

Excuses are ruining your life

I’m all for inclusion and diversity and every person living her or his own truth. Research has shown that when people from diverse backgrounds/perspectives/experiences work together to solve a problem, their solution is five times more impactful than that of heterogeneous groups or people working alone.

What I can’t stand are excuses: “I’m an introvert,” “I’m not a morning person,” “I naturally procrastinate because of a childhood experience.” Insert the excuse you might be using here:_______________________________________________________

Assume the next two sentences are true. Excuses are ruining your life. You can stop making excuses.

Every day you have the ability to make a conscious decision to do or not do (or, as Yoda breaks it down, “Do or do not. There is no try.”). You get to work on time or you don’t. You face the day with a positive attitude or you don’t. You work harder than the person next to you or you don’t. It’s all you.

If you’re making excuses, you’re signing the death warrant for a fulfilling career and an amazing life. Excuses destroy you. They keep you running in place so that you’re just as tired as someone who doesn’t make excuses, only you have nothing to show for all the energy you’re using.

Complacency is a more subtle form of making excuses. You’ve convinced yourself that things can’t get better so there’s no point in trying. If you’re spending more time on video games, Netflix, hanging out, eating or drinking because life is ugly and unfair, get some help. Even if all you can manage is to sit in a library reading a motivational book, do it. You’re the only person who can make things happen in your life.

You have time. You can afford it. You don’t need a college degree or to talk to an expert or a better economy first. Every time you hear yourself making an excuse, make a hard stop and force yourself to be honest. “I don’t want to take the time,” or “I’d rather spend my money clubbing with friends,” or “I’m afraid I won’t understand that webinar,” are honest acknowledgements about yourself so own them. It’s the only way you can get a sense of if and what you want to change.

Stop blaming circumstances or other people for where you are (or aren’t) in life and change your situation. Then get used to the idea that nobody has a perfect life. That effort alone could take some time as you reconsider the concept of personal happiness. You don’t have to love your job. It’s enough if you love that you’re good at your job or that you love the people you work with. You don’t have to love the process of change. It’s enough to love the idea of what change will bring you.

Don’t let your life pass by without giving it your best effort. Get to the finish line with no regret.

So what’s this have to do with excuses? Our brain subconsciously makes excuses by rationalizing why we can’t achieve our goals.

And you could either succeed or make excuses.

We often make excuses because we fear something.

• Fear of failure
• Fear of embarrassment or looking stupid
• Fear of success or added responsibility
• Fear of change or uncertainty
• Fear of danger

However, excuses only hold us back and prevent us from achieving the dreams we truly desire.

For example, if we fear failure, we may not pursue our dream career or start the business we want. If we fear embarrassment, we might be intimidated to step foot into the gym.

So what are some common excuses most people make?

“I Don’t Have Time.”

This is by far the biggest excuse I struggle with. Not having enough time simply means you lack prioritization.

Either you achieve your goals, or your goals become the sacrifice.

Prioritizing what’s most important and learning to eliminate it will help you overcome this excuse.

We live in a world where we are inundated with requests, opportunities, and shiny objects. Social media is showing us highlights and curating clickbait titles to keep you mindlessly scrolling on their platform.

My advice is to create an environment that limits possible distractions. First, you’ll need to figure out what are the useless time-sucking activities you’re spending time on and are mentally draining you.

Examples may include:

• Watching Netflix
• Scrolling on social media
• Online shopping
• Pornography
• Smoking or drinking excessively

The point is to make a list and start by removing one at a time.

Once you’ve removed the distractions, you can fill your day with high-priority activities.

For me, building my writing business, serving clients, and learning are my highest value activities. This means they will yield the best results.

Find the activities that directly contribute to achieving your goals.

“I’m Not Motivated”

Motivation is a fleeting emotion that comes in. But always remember that action precedes motivation.

On the days when you don’t feel like working out, you need to work out the most. Once you’ve completed the workout, you won’t regret doing it.

Get rid of the motivation excuse by starting small. For me, I’m killing the lack of motivation to write by writing daily.

I will write 100 words per day and publish articles on Medium.

Find ways to start small.

• Write for 15 minutes a day.
• Go for a 20-minute walk.
• Outreach to 1 new prospective client
• Write the about page for your new website.

Furthermore, put this task at the start of the day, when you likely will have the most energy and most motivation.

“I’ll Do It Tomorrow.”

Realize, there’s no such thing as tomorrow. For me, I put off things such as cleaning, reaching out to clients, or working on my website.

Often, it’s the things we don’t like or the things that have too much complexity that cause us to procrastinate.

Beat procrastination by simplifying the task.

Break down the project into digestible chunks. If you’re working on a bigger project such as building a new website, you may need to break it down into bite-sized pieces like:

• Sign up for a web host.
• Choose a layout.
• Write the copy for the about page.
• Write copy for X page, and so on.

If you’re procrastinating on small things such as cleaning, you can assign certain days to do them. But you can even aim to solve the problem altogether.

For example, you can have a laundry basket and various organizers in your home to minimize the mess you make in your home.

I’ve noticed I dread cleaning the most when I let the problem pile up.

Another solution is to get rid of as many small tasks as possible.

For example, you could have groceries delivered, meals prepared for you in advance, or cleaning done for you by hiring people to do them.

Getting rid of small tasks all together perhaps could be the best option.

However, for important projects putting it off tomorrow is not an option.

Skipping a workout isn’t an option.

Failing to work on your business isn’t an option.

“I Can Do It All”

Nobody can do it all, not even Superman. He needs the Justice League to help. Not even Michael Jordan; he needed Scottie Pippen.

Many people, including myself, overestimate what we can accomplish in a given day but underestimate what we can achieve in a year.

For example, I usually fail to account for many factors such as fatigue, laziness, distractions, etc.

No matter how hard I plan, I tend to misjudge what I actually complete.

The truth is, we should start small and gradually increase.

Do only the highest leverage activities, and the rest are just a bonus.

Don’t try to write 10,000 words a day if you can only write 1000.

Or don’t read 1 book a week. Try to read just 10 pages a day.

In fitness, most people try to lose weight fast. This causes them to gain the weight back.

Instead, go slower. Do things manageably so that you can build the habit.

Rather than changing 10 habits at once, change only one.

Don’t try to achieve 5 goals, just focus on one.

This inevitably means letting go of other goals for the pursuit of the singular best goal you could achieve.

For example, you cannot start two businesses at once. That’s simply too hard.

You may not be able to date while working on your business casually. One can lead you to go on frequent dates, party, drink excessively and stay out late, which surely will impact your business.

Everything comes with a price, and you will simply have to determine what price you’re willing to pay for your goals.

“I’m Not Good Enough”

Even Michael Jordan couldn’t shoot a basketball at some point in their life.

Everyone starts off as a beginner. What helps me overcome the “I’m not good enough” excuse is to think about things on a long-term horizon.

For example, even if I was bad at writing today, I can certainly be competent 6 months or 1 year from now.

I may not be able to land my dream job today. But if I work on the skill sets needed, I can do so in a year’s time.

You’d be surprised at the progress you can make in just 90 days.

In 90 days, you could learn how to cook, a new skill such as video editing, etc.

Set your mind to get it done and simply start.

I recommend learning from a mentor, course, or from people who have experienced what you’re trying to accomplish.

This lets you reduce the learning curve and avoid the common pitfalls that beginners would make.

Mistakes can set you back and de-motivate you. Nobody said you have to experience the mistakes yourself. Why not learn from other people’s mistakes and be guided by someone who knows the subject better than you.

“I Don’t Know How To.”

The world is your oyster, only if you make it. There’s no point in a chef who has access to unlimited ingredients if they don’t know how to use most of them.

The internet has a wealth of knowledge that lets the everyday person learn about any subject.

I recommend doing your research and not letting the excuse of not knowing how to overcome you.

For example, if you’re starting a business, there will be many new things you’ll need to learn, such as how to build a website, find clients, send invoices, hire people, etc.

As you move forward in life, you’ll have to adapt and learn as you go quickly. The key is not to get bogged down by excuses like “I don’t know how to.” Giving in to these excuses means stagnation and automatic failure.

Remember that you technically can’t fail long-term if you don’t give up. If you don’t give up and you continually seek to improve, it’s practically impossible not to achieve some level of success.

If you show up to the gym every day, follow a good program and give it your honest effort, it’s hard not to achieve some level of strength and conditioning.

If you write and read consistently, you’ll begin to pick up on nuances and become a better writer.

If you hop on a sales call daily, you’ll begin to overcome objections and smoothly close prospects at a better rate.

Conclusion — Find Your Excuses and Get Rid of Them

Realize everyone is prone to excuses. It doesn’t matter what color or age you are. Personally, I’ve written this article because I fall into these excuses myself. Writing about them gives me an outlet to identify and better get rid of them.

Some people may have excuses in one area of life while none in another area. For example, I’ve learned to be more disciplined with fitness while lacking discipline in other aspects of my life.