(This is part two of the series on living an epic life. You can find part one here.)
Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. – George Washington Carver
In the last post, I told you that you can live an epic life. Nothing in life says we cannot. Find me the book on life that says it’s impossible.
I can imagine some of you thinking when you read the last post, “That’s great and motivating but I have a mortgage, kids to feed, I’m not so smart, I don’t have experience, and I don’t even know where to begin.”
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. – Benjamin Franklin
When you have an excuse, what you are doing is immediately telling your brain to stop being unrealistic and go back to being realistic without even trying.
The path full of excuses leads to an average life.
Let’s go over some excuses.
I don’t know how to start.
Is your Google broken? Whenever I need anything, Google is the first place I look. If I can’t find it, I try another keyword.
The library is another great resource. There has to be a book on how to do anything you want. If you haven’t been the library since college, try looking on Amazon.com.
Look to people you know. Ask around. Search on Twitter. Find blogs in your area of interest. Contact the owner and ask them how they got started.
Saying you don’t know how to start is a weak excuse because there are so many resources available.
I’m not that smart.
Smart can be defined in a couple ways. Book smart and street smart. I assume if your excuse is that you’re not smart enough, you think you need to be a Jeopardy champion.
Is everyone who is living an epic life is super smart? No.
Does IQ automatically determine your future success? No.
You might not be book smart, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it up in other areas.
Being “not smart” probably helps because some of the most famous companies started from unrealistic visions. Index the whole internet? Sell books online? Overnight shipping?
These ideas that turned out to be Google, Amazon, and FedEx, which have changed the world.
JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter at a time when wizardry for children just wasn’t in style. Twelve publishers rejected her and even the one that accepted her told her to keep her day job. Those twelve other “smart people” must have kicked themselves after it became a runaway success.
The “smart people” believed certain ideas would fail, when in fact their predictions were so wrong.
You don’t have to be smart to do great things in life. As you can see, sometimes it’s actually better to not be so smart.
I don’t have the time.
Time to seem to be one of the bigger excuses. Time never stopped others who have gone to live epic lives.
Those who alway say they don’t have enough time, spend more time coming up with excuses than solutions.
We all have 24 hours in a day. That will never change. It just depends on you how you plan on spending those hours.
If you don’t have the time, make time. Wake up earlier. Sleep later. Work during your lunch break. Cut out watching television or social media.
Chris Brogan just wrote a whole post about finding time to write a book. He’s written books while running a company, speaking around the country, blogging daily, and taking care of his family.
This is what he suggests if you have kids. These could also be applied to finding time for anything else.
- While they watch TV, you write at the table. If you have time for TV, you have time to write a book. Can’t concentrate? Headphones.
- Wake up 40 minutes earlier. Use 20 to get less groggy. Use 20 to start some writing.
- Stay up 40 minutes later. Use 30 to write and 10 to calm your brain back down.
- Use “idle time” like waiting room time to write. Don’t want to whip out the laptop? Then use something else to capture more work (remember that note cards aren’t a book).
- Quit one “used to be useful” activity. We all have them. Are you still at book club? Unless it’s your life saver, stop. Ditto volunteering. Volunteer to write a book. Then volunteer.
Find things that kill your productivity and eliminate them. How much time do you spend on the unimportant everyday? I cut way back on how much television I watch. That right there freed up so much time.
For myself, eliminating what I shouldn’t be doing helped just as much as knowing what I should be doing.
Find ways to create more time in your day. Remember doing something unimportant for hours doesn’t make it important.
I need money so I can quit my miserable job.
You may not need as much money as you think to quit your job and travel for a year or start you own online business. Of course if you have mouths to feed, you have to think of them.
That’s why I really stress that if you’re young, you should be taking more risks. That’s what I would have told my younger self.
No matter what situation you are in, you can have more money by cutting back on your spending.
Do you need a home phone line? Cable? Gym membership? Magazine subscriptions? Expensive cell phone plan?
You could cut back on eating out and stop impulse buying. Seriously, how much stuff do you have at home that you bought and don’t use anymore? Don’t be ashamed because I’m in the same category.
Sell your crap! Sell it on Craigslist. Have a garage sale. Sell it on Ebay. One person’s trash is another man’s treasure is the old saying.
If you do have to continue working for the income, then find the time to work on your side projects in your free time. Entrepreneurs have created businesses while working a full time job.
You wouldn’t be the first to try that.
I know your job might suck but you have to make a choice to stay or go. Up till late last year, I hated my job with a passion. Guess what? I’m still at the same job but my outlook is different.
It’s still not for me but I have a mortgage that has to be paid. I could have sold my house but decided I’d rather keep it. So I’ve accepted my choice and am working on blogging and building a business online when I’m not working.
I’m 10x happier than I was last year, even though I’m still at the same job. It started with the one sentence that changed my life.
I don’t have much experience.
Who really has all the experience they need when starting out? When have you started anything new in life and was a pro already?
The successful ones learn as they go. They will fail but learning while doing it gives them more experience than just reading about it.
When you had your first kiss, did you have much experience? No! It was your first kiss.
Take a look at any field and everyone had to start at the beginning like we would have to.
Instead of trying to learn everything before you start, just start so you can learn everything.
I might fail.
It is a mistake to suppose that people succeed through success; they often succeed through failures. ~Author Unknown
The fear of failure stops so many everyday from doing things they dream of.
Just remember there is no success in life without failure. Without failure, you will not have success.
Failure is a part of life. The ones who live an epic life, learn from their failures. They think, “Ok, how can I do this better next time?” The ones who don’t say to themselves “See, I knew it wasn’t going to work.”
You don’t have to deal with failure alone. Maybe you have a mastermind group you can get advice from (learn more about how to setup a group). You may have a mentor. Get some career or life coaching. Talk to a trusted friend or family member.
Failing is not the end of the world. Look at failure as feedback.
Your identity is not defined in your failures, but instead how you respond after those failures.
Excuses arise for things we want to do.
You will usually create excuses when it’s something you actually want to do but think of reasons to not do it.
- Lose weight? Excuses.
- Write a book? Excuses.
- Make money online? Excuses.
- Start a business around your passion? Excuses.
I think you get the point.
If it was something you had no interest in doing, you would just say you weren’t interested instead of creating excuses.
The ones who live an epic life think of solutions instead of excuses when they are passionate about something. Be that person.
What other excuses would you add to these six?
What do you do to get past the excuses and into action?
Please take a moment to share it to help others get past these bad excuses.
Full of information and inspiration. I need to come back to this and reread it more in depth.
I love the idea of taking just 20 minutes a day to increase productivity. Once you get the ball rolling… Good stuff happens.
It really is amazing how many excuses we can come up with to keep us off track. Starting is the hardest place. Thanks Benny. I will put some of these to practice… when I can find the time. lol
Hey Richard!
Thanks for retweeting this as well. Yes this is a post that definitely needs to be read more than once. 20 minutes a day might not seem like much but when you’re starting out it can make a huge difference. It’s about starting and getting that momentum going. A train at rest is immovable. Once that engine starts, it goes really slow and we could still out run the train. Soon it picks up speed and then when it’s at its top speed, it can go through a brick wall. Starting is the hardest part.
I know after reading this over and over, you will find the time. LOL.
Thanks for commenting Richard.
Benny,
I was going to leave a good comment in response to this post but I am not sure where to start and besides, I am not nearly as smart as everyone else who will leave a comment here. Anyway, I am running out of time here and have got to get back to my crap job. I just wish I had enough experience to do something different. Well, that is all. I am tempted to just erase this comment – people will probably laugh at me for even writing.
Aaron
(Great post by the way! Keep up the good work!)
ps. I don’t really have a crap job.
Nice Aaron! I think the Kansas heat got to your brain! Just kidding. Safe travels my friend!
I would add “I just need to find out that piece of information before I start” to the list. That info, leads to more info, leads to more info and so on.
The problem is that many people feel they need to be some kind of expert to get started. A few hours of research, for most things is enough to get you started (maybe not surgery). It takes very little time to get 80 or even 90% of the knowledge you need, but it can take for every to become a true expert.
The best way is to get started.
I have to admit I’ve used most of the excuses here at some point.
What about you? Which one has held you back the most?
Hey Chris, I’m definitely guilty of using all of these excuses at one point in my life.
The one that has held me back the most is the fear of failure. I would be afraid to try because what if I did it for months and then realized it wasn’t for me? I would be upset I wasted so much time and energy. Thinking I would fail and how much time I would have wasted on a failed journey held me back a lot. I gave up before even trying.
I would say second would be the excuse of not having enough time. I didn’t realize how much time i was wasting on the unimportant.
The need to find out just a bit more is a great example. We try to be too perfect before we start but really we should be learning as we are doing.
Thanks for sharing Chris!
I hear you on the fear of failure – but I have that problem in a different way. I’m more fearful of picking the wrong single thing to work on in case it is no successful as I want it to be, so I will end up working on several at once. Not a good place to be really, as if you pick one thing and give it your all you will do far better.
Thanks for answering.
Benny,
It’s so true. There used to be a time when a few people had all the knowledge. As a result, they were the most valued.
Today things are so different. The power of search and social networking has provided everyone with the ability to find answers to almost anything.
If you know how to do a search you can pretty much accomplish anything. The paradigm has shifted.
In addition, the power of the internet and the services available, grant individuals access to things that were well beyond the “normal persons” grasp.
Want to start your own radio show? Make a podcast.
Want to publish a book? Use CreateSpace
Want to build an Android App? Head to elance or odesk
Need a logo? Try 99Designs
The list goes on and on. The only barrier is ourselves.
As always, thanks for sharing.
-Mark
Hey Mark!
Great comment there. Thanks so much. I’d like to add one to that list you made. If you want to start your own television channel, go to Youtube. People make a living having their own channel and create their own content. Many making six figures! If you wanted to be a internet celebrity, that’s a perfect place.
That’s really cool about publishing your own book. I never looked into it but it’s cool to see that it’s possible.
So many great resources. They’re almost like toys. It’s exciting to get to choose which one to play with and have the most fun. Thanks for sharing Mark!
Search has really changed everything. We can find just about any answer with a few strokes of the keyboard. It’s really amazing. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like in 10 years from now.
I love this! Such a great approach to take all of the common excuses people have for not living an epic life – and shooting each one down.
There really isn’t an excuse good enough to warrant not living an epic life. And why would you want to live that way anyway? Like you said, so much of it is about your outlook on things – which is the reason you can be in the same job as before and be much happier now, despite being miserable before.
Anyway, thanks for the inspiration. And, for full disclosure, I’ve also used all of the excuses you listed here at one point or another – but those excuses are coming up less and less often! 🙂
Hey Krista!
I knew which excuses to put in this list cause I’ve used them before as well! We learn as we go. We’re wiser now.
A great example for me is my iPhone app that was just released. I’ve had a dream to sell one but didn’t know how to start. So I never took action to look. Finally late last year I bought an ebook and learned step by step how to do it. Before I didn’t think to find a resource that would teach me. I just thought of it as something I’d do one day. So I had lots of excuses until I finally got off my butt and did it!
So now I can’t have an excuse as to why I can’t work my way up to 100 burpees. LOL!
haha! That’s awesome about your app… I’ve always wanted to create one as well but thought it wasn’t very realistic since I didn’t know code. Now I have no more excuses!
How many burpees have you done so far? 🙂
Thanks so much Krista! I don’t know a single line of code. I just love my iPhone. I had an idea and I bought an ebook to learn the steps to outsourcing the work. It wasn’t all smooth sailing but no big problems.
Burpees? LOL. Hmmmm…I can do a set of 10 before I need to rest. A long way till 100!
I used to be terrible at complaining and making excuses. Thank goodness I learned that was getting me absolutely nowhere. I’m a library’aholic. I love checking out non fiction books and learning new things. I also use youtube a lot when I’m trying to learn something technical or hard to grasp in an article. It’s so handy for home improvement stuff! -Sydney
Sydney! You read my mind. I could have typed that whole comment that you just wrote.
The six excuses on the list were ones I’ve used many times in my life. That’s why I felt so stuck in my life. I love non fiction books too. I love learning. And Youtube is so helpful when I want to learn something cause I learn better by seeing it. So many answers I’ve needed have come from Google and Youtube. A powerful combination!
Thanks Sydney. Stay warm in San Francisco!
Hey Benny.
These are the most classical excuses on earth. It’s always an excuse or a reason behind a reason, behind a reasons reason. The reason they don’t act or they stay sheltered is FEAR. nothing more. Too many people are scared of succeeding, scared of failing, and too busy dying, rather than getting busy LIVING! The majority of people may lay low and allow there minds to walk all over time, but NOT I or you. We shall conquer this world and everything one in it. YOU just wait n SEE!!!
(Dracula laugh…body fades into the darkness…)
Thanks for the Dracula laugh! I’m glad I didn’t imagine that in the middle of the night in an empty house….
Love the inspiring comment! Yes you and I will be in that 1% of all people who get busy living, live an epic life, and face our fears head on! Along the way we will gather an army to join in the battle against an average life!!
Thanks Jonathan!
Hey no problem Benny!!! Catch you next post!
I moved from the US to Asia with less than $1,000 in my bank account. Then I used $5000 from retirement funds to survive a year. I have no savings. It’s definitely not brain science to do more things and take more risks and in fact, I’d argue that most people think it’s rather stupid! 😉 My point is that you don’t need to be smart. You’ll find a way. You’ll adapt. You’ll figure it out and fail forward.
Hey Janet! Where did you used to live in the US? That’s very bold of you to make that move. Too many people would be afraid of the unknown. Taking risks is a huge step when people are so used to their comfort zone. Even changing a bad habit is hard for them!
I’m glad you made the leap and are working hard every day to make a better life for yourself!
Thanks for sharing!
This is great, Benny. Sometimes it’s hard to acknowledge our excuses and then do something about them. The most difficult thing for me is taking concrete steps toward what I want.
That’s why I like you advice that eliminating what you *shouldn’t* be doing helped you to focus on what you should have been doing.
Hey Steve,
Eliminating what I shouldn’t be doing was just as important as doing what I should be. I needed more time to work on so many projects. Then I became aware of how much excuses were holding me back. After writing them down, I realize just had silly they are when I think about them.
You’re right in that taking that first step is so hard. But if we’re on the right path and doing something we are passionate about, soon we’ll be speeding like a train w/ nothing getting in our way!
Have a great weekend Steve!
Should we believe in any excuse at all? Everywhere you see people wanting to do things – how many of them do we see succeed?
Most people just aren’t willing to put enough effort into the things they want to do. Much less do those things with excellence. Because excellence is something you can only achieve by hours and hours of hard work is much easier to just make up an excuse to not being able to achieve said thing.
‘If it was something you had no interest in doing, you would just say you weren’t interested instead of creating excuses.’ I liked this conclusion, it’s simple but I hadn’t thought of it.
Thanks for the reading.
Thanks Hugo! When I was thinking about when we use excuses, I realize we say it when we want to do something but find reasons not to. If someone suggested I go work on a farm milking cows, I wouldn’t have an excuse. I might try and make a joke out of it. But other than that, I realize I would just say I wasn’t interested. No excuses. No saying “I wish but…”.
People are lazy. Plain and simple. They will take the time to make a grocery list but don’t make a list of goals they want to achieve. They want to do things Hugo but they aren’t specific enough. They might say, “I want to be healthy”. Well what is your definition of healthy? Or they’ll say, “I want to lose weight.” Well how much? Like you said, they don’t want to put in the effort nor do the things they want to do.
I just try to wake up those people and get them to understand they can change their lives.
Always enjoy reading your comments here. Thanks Hugo!
Hey Benny,
I was going to read this post, but I don’t know where to begin and I didn’t have time, Plus I’m broke and really not smart enough to understand the words on the page…
I guess I better stop making excuses and just do it…
In all seriousness, this was a strong post and really made me think. I still make the “time” excuses, but at least I recognize it and am working on it.
Keep up the wicked flow Benny!
Hey Brad!
I didn’t realize my post would have such a lazy effect on you and Aaron. If you look in the comments, you’ll see he had so many excuses as well. LOL.
Recognizing it is a huge step. At least it’s just not something you say w/o even realizing it. I don’t want those strings to be controlling what I do!
“That’s why I really stress that if you’re young, you should be taking more risks.”
This line hit me. Thanks for writing this post.
I’m young enough where money isn’t the #1 priority so it’s important for me to take risks to help myself in other parts of my life while money isn’t that important (then when it starts becoming more important, I can handle risks!)
Hey Matt! Yes you’re young and don’t have a lot of financial responsibility I assume. You are in a great position to take more risks. I know you’re trying new things all the time so that’s great.
Don’t be the one 10 years later that says “I wish I had….” Do it now. Today. Tomorrow.
I know you will.
Damn Benny,
You pretty much nailed all my excuses. I can’t come up with anything. I surrender..
The one I’ve been using the most is the
“I don’t have enough experience” excuse. Like I’m waiting for my brain to go DING! **You have now acquired enough experience to do this**. Like some sort of role-playing-game from yonder.
It just doesn’t work like that. It’s silly I actually still think in those patterns, when I know that all I have to do is take action, and deal with whatever comes my way.
Going all in, even if I know nothing about where to start or what to do, but I trust myself enough that I’ll figure it out.
I did the same with blogging.
I did the same with personal development.
I did the same with everything else in my life.
No more excuses.
Hey Allan!
At least you’re aware of the excuse you use the most. I used to think I had to be perfect before I started. With blogging, I didn’t know everything. Just the basics and I’m learning every week. I know I’m still far from being a pro but have enjoyed the journey. That’s what we should enjoy. That will give us extra incentive to get started so we can enjoy the journey.
Thanks Allan!
We tend to spend so much time fighting ourselves and what our heart truly desires. The excuse is typically fear. See the fear for what it is “an illusion”, face it, and live life with passion!
Hi again Kenya!
You make a great point. What we fight against the most is what we really want to do. I read the “War of Art” and the author calls it resistance. The more resistance we have, the more we have to do it. Something so easy wouldn’t have any resistance. Just what we desire. Yes we must overcome that fear and view is as an illusion. I completely agree!
Rule #76 Right B? ” No Excuses Play Like A Champion”!!!
I love the format you choose for this dude. Especially adding Chris Brogans word…
I feel the best way to overcome an excuse is to first, realize that it is just an excuse. ANY REASON to NOT do something is an excuse, NO MATTER HOW GOOD of an excuse it is…
So after awareness comes my motto taken from Nike, “just do it”. When I realize that I have said in my head “i don’t feel like playing guitar,” I just get up and pick it up. 9 times out of 10 if I just start playing, I will get into it.
JUST DO IT!!!
Surfs up,
Hey Sal!
Yes we should take a moment and ask ourselves why we are coming up with excuses. Most of the time it would probably seem ridiculous. If we really want to live life fully we have to get rid of the excuses so we can just do what Nike says we should do!!
I know you don’t make many excuses in your life! Keep it up!
Excuses arise for things we want to do. Nice one. My excuse is fear of failure with a twist. Word of said failure will spread to the people I care about. As a result, I will be talked about or thought of as a failure by the people most important to me. Sadly, this is all really in my head. Great post!
That’s an interesting twist but not that weird. I think we worry about what people think about us all the time. We definitely don’t want to be seen as failures to the people most important to us. But it’s definitely in our heads! I’m glad you enjoyed the post Buck!
Thanks for sharing here!
Couldn’t agree more.
I spent six years using the money excuse for not leaving a miserable job. Finally quit, and while it is not easy being unemployed, I am so much happier.
Hi Tracy! Welcome to Get Busy Living.
I’m glad you took a bold step to quit your miserable job. I know that no matter how much they paid you that you did not want to be there. I’m so happy to hear you’re much happier now!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
I think that fear is probably the biggest excuse of all. “I’m scared” is something I wouldn’t admit to myself for the longest time – better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, right? But I found that once my fear was acknowledged the unknown devil didn’t really pack that much punch.
Hey Ruth!
Yes being scared is a huge excuse. I know I’ve used that before. I’m glad that you acknowledged your fear and realized it wasn’t that scary. It usually isn’t if we overcome that fear. We usually look back and wonder what we were so scared about in the first place.
Thanks for sharing Ruth! Congrats the breakthrough!
> Excuses arise for things we want to do.
So true.
Every time we got a puppy, I suddenly found time to play with it.
Thanks for sharing that J.D! It’s hard to resist playing with a puppy!
Another great post and fabulous topic Benny. Well done!
I’m the one that doesn’t have any book smarts but I sure do have a lot of common sense. I also thought I could master this internet because I’d been online through my job. Little did I know that I was WAY over my head.
But if you want something bad enough, you’ll stop with all the excuses. Google is the best place to go for any information. It’s a great starting place.
I know that fear has a lot to do with why people continue to come up with excuses. If you ever want to get anywhere in life though, you need to walk through the fear. Let’s face it, once we get to the other side we’re kind of embarrassed at how easy it was.
If you really want something bad enough, you’ll find a way. If you don’t you won’t. It’s really as easy as that.
You definitely made up for your self proclaimed lack of book smarts! You have a hunger for learning and achieving your goals. I know excuses don’t get in your way anymore!
You’re right. The reason we have so many excuses is due to fear. Fear of this and fear of that. However the ones who live the life of their dreams forget the fear and do it anyways!
Thanks again as always Adrienne!
Excuses, excuses … great take on the whole scenario Benny. I tend to focus on the end result, which pushes excuses out of the way more often than not. At the end of the day, it’s all in how you incorporate your habits. I tend to give myself deadlines, otherwise I procrastinate … and that’s the worst excuse ever.
Hey Vitaly!
Oh yeah saying “I’ll do it tomorrow” is another bad excuse. Deadlines are a must. Give yourself a month to do a project and you’ll wait till the last few days. Give yourself a few days and you’ll work so hard on getting it done. You’re right in saying that good habits are so important. If we have good habits, then we’re less likely to make excuses to get things done.
Thank you Vitaly for sharing your experience.
“Is your google broken”..Benny I had to say that out loud..and can’t stop laughing, lol. Beautiful. Google is our friend. I think the excuse I give myself the most is ” I don’t know how..and it looks complicated”. I seam to get anxiety at attempting tasks, especially technical tasks which are outside my realm of knowledge which they pretty much all are. Except….with a little time and dedication..I taught myself basic html..and with lots of googling might I add. I guess my point is there will always be an excuse for not “just doing it”…but who wants to live a life full of played out excuses…I sure don’t? Get your write on Benny…you killed it with this.
Hey Stacey!
Sometimes it’s quicker to just do a Google search than ask a question in a forum and wait for an answer. Even in forums when I’m looking for technical answers, I’ll search first. If you don’t search and ask, some community members might get upset cause it’s a commonly asked question. So searching in forums and especially Google should be our first step!
Technical tasks are tough to learn online. That’s why i try and find a good Youtube video. For my iPhone app, I followed Apple’s instructions on how to upload it. I used Google to help every step of the way to answer any questions I had. Also I used Youtube. The last step took the longest. I searched and searched and almost gave up. Finally I found the answer! I saved $150, which is what it would have cost if I had someone do it for me. Took me 4 hours so that’s not too bad.
That’s great you’ve learned some HTML that way! It’s not that bad to learn if you take the time to learn it little by little. No excuses to say you don’t know how to do something! Google is our friend!
Thanks for sharing Stacey!
Benny, Benny, Benny… Thanks for pointing out the excuses that get in the way of our goals, whatever they may be. I kinda laughed when I read some of them. Not because they’re funny, but because I can relate and they are true.
I think we’ve all made one or more of these excuses some time in life. Unfortunately, the excuse I use most is, I just don’t have the time. So, to make time, I get up very early (on most days). That helps me tremendously, but also leaves me weary throughout the day.
Chris Brogan’s suggestions were very inspiring. I appreciate you sharing them.
Thanks for another helpful post!!! Have a great day.
Allyson
Hey Allyson,
I listed those excuses cause they were ones I used first hand. I know I’m not the only one that has used them. Time is something I still struggle with. It’s not time from blogging but time to do chores or clean my house! It’s just all my free time now is spent blogging, which I love.
I’m glad I came across Chris’ blog while I writing this. I’m glad it inspired you!
Hope you had a great weekend!
I believe the fear of not being good enough is the root and each excuse me make is pretty much a variation that comes from this core excuse.
Having low self esteem definitely is a huge factor. If we don’t believe in ourselves, we will make excuses as to why we can’t do it. Very good point.
A few people before me have mentioned it already, but the “excuses arise from things we want to do” line is pure gold.
I would try to stop making excuses but I might fail. 🙂
Great post!
That is a tough situation. You don’t want to fail but you don’t want to stop making excuses. What to do?
I’m one that doesn’t possess book intelligence but I definitely use a large amount of common sense. I additionally considered I possibly could learn this particular web simply because I’d been online by means of my own work.
Stumbled on your blog after reading an interview with you on another one (mindofmichael) and I have to say, I love it so far! This is SO true, I see people around me (and even myself) making excuses not to do the things that will make them truly happy… Thanks for giving at least a little motivation to stop!! 😉
Laurie
Thanks for coming from Michael’s blog! That was my first interview and I was very happy to share my experience.
I’ve used those excuses many times for sure. That’s why for so long I was unhappy, stuck, and felt hopeless. Now that I’ve reduced my excuses, my life feels so much better! I know you will do if you think of solutions instead of excuses. Like I said, usually we give excuses for things we want to really do.
Thanks for your comment and please do come by regularly!
As I read this post all I could think of was all the excuses I hear everyday when I talk to people about living their dreams lives. I agree with you that there are no excuses and that using excuses is only a cop out of pulling yourself up and living a great life. One of my best friends ALWAYS uses excuses. It drives me crazy but I love him like a brother. He just like so many other people in the world would be so much better off if they didn’t.. make.. excuses
Hey Benny, great post mate!
I particularly liked the story about JK Rowling, bet those 12 publishers are kicking themselves – akin to that guy that didnt sign the beatles.
I think what I liked most about this post is that throughout it echoed the sentiments of two of my favourite quotes:
“99% of success is failure”
“You can ONLY make two things in life: Results or Excuses. Which are you going to make?”
I have these on my wall (along with my favourite quote of them all: “change the way you look at things and the things you look at change”) and they have provided me with invaluable direction, encouragement and support as I have travelled on my blogging journey.
Cheers mate – good to see you again too.
Especially for the “I don’t know how to start” excuse, I love the site http://43Things.com, which is a community specifically to support people in pursuing their goals. People can post their goals, search for other people who’ve had those goals and accomplished them, connect with them, ask questions, etc.
I wonder why we are very prone to excuses. Could it be that our minds are pre-programmed to resists anything that would nudge it out of its comfort zone? You have provided an awareness here regarding the reasons for our mediocrity, and if we learn to resist its dictum, finally we can have a glimpse of success we long for. 🙂
Hi Walter,
Our minds will resist what we truly want to do. That’s why we have excuses to not do thing. If you didn’t want to do it, you would just say, “I’m not interested in that” instead of saying “I don’t have time” or “I wish I could”. See the difference?
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment!
The ‘not having enough money’ is perfect.
I left my job with just $1,000 in the bank with no real stable future when it came to running my online businesses and blogs.
However, things work out because when you put all that stress on your shoulders, you’re ready to do the heavy work instead of relying on the stable paycheck. It makes you aware of what you need to be doing to get things done and survive.
Don’t use a little excuse like you won’t be able to have everything to stop you from doing the thing you want. It means you need to make sacrifices to your life style but you only have ‘up’ to go – you can get back to where you were out in time because of all the time you have to work on your business.
This post is so inspirational! I think I have used every single excuse on the list, haha. It’s time to stop, to get my life organized and re-prioritize. Time to redefine fun and find more balance. My happiness depends on it!
Don’t worry I’ve used all of them before. As have many other people. It’s just about recognizing when you use an excuse and why. Then you have a better chance to not listening to that excuse!
Hi Benny,
Glad I came here straight up from SPI. You’re a good motivational writer and I like that.
I am a motivational writer and speaker too (upcoming though) and I’m just 19 and when I tell people my dreams, they say “Hey! That’s absurd. Don’t you know you are a Nigerian? Do you think you are a white?” or “You think like a 10-year old”.
But, I really see those words prompting me to do more.
I stay later at night than my mates do, an almost anti-TV fan, cut less on some things and all that just to make sure I get to the top.
I also tell some other people that school doesn’t determine success in life, rather the gift within you does.
Thanks for sharing this tips.
I was motivated all over again.
Truth is that if you are committed to being a success, it comes but something must be sacrificed. No free lunch in America, Benny.
Hey Chukwuka,
Thanks for coming from SPI. Pat is a great guy and has a great blog.
Your’re doing great things at 19. I wish I had started when I was 19. I hope you don’t listen to people who tell you your dreams are absurd. I’m glad to read it motivates you to do more. You’re well on your way. Imagine in 10 years, you’ll be a successful writer and speaker, while those same friends are looking for jobs.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Yeah! Pat really is a great guy.
I don’t and I won’t.
Lol! I wished I started when I was 10.
All same, it’s good we started at all. 🙂
I think my excuse is : “I am afraid” but I am so afraid to accept this excuse in front of people around me that I usually keep it for my self…
This is another really good post I read here in you blog. You are right…I used to be like that but not anymore!
Thank you Benny!