Exorcising Your Excuses

Chapter One Excuses Defined Are You Living a Lie? “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else”–Benjamin Franklin Special Note: Plead read chapter 16 BEFORE you begin this chapter. I wrote Chapter 16 to help you integrate and apply all of the material in this book and I have laid it out in a 60-day format. When you reach the sub-section, “Your Official Action Assignment Integration Schedule” you should have a thorough understanding of how to best use this book. Start with Day #1 and it will tell you exactly what to do and how to do it! Refer back to Chap 16 each day to receive your next Action Assignment. Your journey of Exorcising Your Excuses starts right now! ENJOY! So, here you are, not living the life that you wish to live! As you walk past the mirror, you notice more of yourself than normal. Slightly embarrassed, you mutter to yourself, “How did this happen?” As you begin to wonder why you are looking a little more plump than usual, you hear the chatter of your busy mind explaining, “I am busy,” “I don’t have time to exercise right now,” “Once I am done with my project at work, I can get serious about fitness again,” and “I have to take care of others before myself.” These and other countless excuses parade through your mind in a desperate attempt to calm your inner sense of embarrassment. However, even after an honorable attempt to justify your figure, you scratch your head in confusion because your excuses have actually made you feel worse. Why? Because your cleverly devised excuses still did not change what is staring back at you in the mirror. Excuses Defined: Are You Passing The Three-Tiered Test? One of the hardest tasks of becoming excuse-free is identifying what qualifies as an excuse and what does not. How do you know when you are making an excuse and when you are not? After all, you DON’T have time, and your job IS demanding right now, right? To help you with this question, let me suggest two different definitions of excuses: 1- Any rational, justifiable, or reasonable explanation as to why you cannot accomplish your desires 2- Any time you forget about your ultimate potential Let’s cover the first one. Most excuses hide under the guise of being rational, justifiable, or reasonable. Take, for example, the biggest excuse in America: Lack of time. Not having enough time seems to be an accepted reality for all of us these days. I know that you are busy and so is your uncle and your uncle’s goldfish! Nobody is immune to this one! With these “facts” in mind, it appears that we can describe an excuse as the following: -Rational -Justifiable -Reasonable Wow! No wonder these little jewels known as excuses make you feel better about yourself! If you can pass the aforementioned three-tiered test, then you should be out of the woods, right? You are not really making an excuse if it is reasonable, justifiable, or rational right? WRONG! The reality is that you still have that nagging voice in the back of your head telling you that you need to make a change. How irritating! The proverbial mirror never lies. You may ask yourself, “How can this be?” After all, you have a rational, justifiable, or a reasonable explanation why you cannot accomplish your goal, right? So why do you still feel like something is not right within you? The Test Here is a simple test you can always use to find out if you are indeed making an excuse. Keep in mind that this test is still valid even after you go through the aforementioned three-tiered test. If your logical, reasonable or justifiable “reason” for not taking action puts a barrier between you and your goal, you know without a doubt that you are making an EXCUSE! Say, for example, you want to get in better shape, but you find yourself continually saying that you are too busy and that you don’t have enough time to get to the gym. You back up your statements with your schedule, proving that you really do not have any time to exercise! Although your reason is rational, justifiable, or reasonable, it still limits you from reaching your goal! No matter how you try to spin it, this is an excuse because it limits your personal development and divides you from your goal. Your Nature The struggle here is that you are a human being! As a human being, you were designed and created to better yourself on a continual basis. It is literally hard-wired within your DNA for survival purposes. Think of a time when you wanted to accomplish something, but you ended up making an excuse instead. When this happened, you placed your very essence into a state of developmental decline. In other words, anytime you make an excuse instead of reaching for your goal, you negate your God-given ability to create victories in your life. In essence, you forfeit your ability to develop as a human being, and, thereby, limit your true potential. This leads us to the second definition of excuse making. Before I discuss this definition, let me be very clear about my personal beliefs and my experience with excuse making. I believe that we are all creations and expressions of God, and, as such, I believe that we have limitless potential to achieve anything that inspires us! If you have the inkling, the hunch, or the desire to better yourself in any way, then those desires should be respected and viewed as inspiration from a higher source. “If your logical, reasonable or justifiable “reason” for not taking action puts a barrier between you and your goal, you know without a doubt that you are making an EXCUSE!” It is when we forget that we have such divine potential that we ultimately default and resort to excuse making.