FIVE POWERFUL STEPS FOR LIVING AN EXCUSE-FREE LIFE
In the words of Pirie Jones Grossman:
“I am continually amazed to discover how hard some people work to make their lives extraordinary. Yet, no matter how much they have accomplished or how good they feel about themselves, there is almost always one area of their lives where they feel powerless to create their next level of success. When we examine this area, we undoubtedly find one or more excuses—excuses that have more power than their commitment to their stated goal.”
Notice, that these excuses are practically automatic. They require no thinking or creativity. Everybody has them and uses them and pretends that they are rendered powerless by them. Some of these excuses are obvious, and others so subtle it takes a keen eye to expose them.
Some scream their limiting messages loud enough for all to hear; others whisper quietly in their ears: “It’s not my fault.” “I couldn’t help it.” “My family needed me.” “I need so-and-so to do their part before I can do mine.” “I can’t do it.” “I don’t have enough money.” “I’m too stressed out.” “I have a headache.” “Business is bad all over.” “I’ll do it next week.” “I’ll start tomorrow.”
Excuses like these are the proverbial back door people leave open if the pursuit of their goals is more demanding than they anticipated. Basically, they’ve already decided that they want a time-out. It’s literally an attempt to “excuse” themselves from fulfilling their objectives and behaving like the responsible, powerful, creative human beings that they are.
Excuses transfer all of their inner power to outer circumstances stripping away their ability to create results. It sabotages their dreams for the future and keeps them tethered to the past. If allowed to camouflage as the truth, these excuses can penetrate the best-laid plans and rob everybody of having a life they love.
Pirie added, “Think back to a time you produced breakthrough results—whether, in your personal life or career, you will likely find your success was won because you didn’t allow yourself to use the excuses that had stopped you in the past. You might have seen them and were perhaps momentarily seduced by them, but ultimately, you chose not to use them.
You consciously or unconsciously declared that area of your life as an “excuse-free” zone. While you may have had moments when your progress was halted by your excuses, in the end, you remained more committed to your vision than to your reasons, excuses, and justifications.
Take that deep dive; you’ll see that having a current picture of your life—one that profoundly inspires you right here and now is the best antidote to the chronic use and sea of excuses.” By taking the action steps below, prepare for the energy surge that will soon follow.
She continued, “I challenge you to take on the area of your life where you’re not making progress and identify the top five excuses you use to justify your current reality. Remind yourself at every moment, you have a choice to align with your grandest vision for your life or to align with your excuses. Then stand tall, take back your power, and consciously claim this area of your life as an ‘excuse free’ zone.”
YOUR VISION
“What is your vision?” Define it. “Is it tied to your sense of purpose?” Define that as well. The first step encourages the person to visualize themselves pursuing and achieving both their vision and purpose.
HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT VISION
“Listen and trust your intuition. It will guide you step-by-step on what you need to do to fulfill your vision. Express gratitude for your intuition”. Ritualize habits. “Reframe how you think about achievement”. Achievements can arrive slowly or suddenly, but if one has made a decisive move towards accomplishing that vision through adopting their future mindset, then they’re on their way to the ‘excuse-free zone’.
CLEARING LIMITING BELIEFS
This is not easy, but it can be if one is willing to be truthful with oneself. People have learned their belief system as a young child, then they did their best to create their life experiences to align with that belief system.
“Have you ever wondered why you’re getting the same result as an adult as you did as a child? The limiting beliefs you’ve held onto for so long haven’t served you—time to identify them, acknowledge that they are not truths, and bid them adieu.”
Regardless of the beliefs that one carries from childhood or adulthood that can include lack of education, career failure, divorce, or trauma, still, everybody is capable of change.
Now putting that into action, one must begin by making a list of those limiting beliefs and choose to release them. Now make another list that includes a concrete approach and action steps to achieve one’s vision. Live without excuses on that list.
CREATING A NEW MINDSET
Take a breath. Now believe that what was written on that second list is the outcome.
Here’s an example: “If you’ve always dreamed of owning your own business, will you take the necessary steps to move forward by researching and gaining more knowledge through business programs and coaches? Or will you avoid doing the work and fall back on your limiting beliefs and excuses that ‘It’s too hard’ or ‘I’m not ready yet.’
LIVING AN EXCUSE-FREE LIFE
Confronting excuses that one has relied on can quickly bring up frustration and irritation. This is understandable since they’re breaking up old psychological patterns, so everybody must be gentle with themselves as they step into new emotional territory. They must keep in mind that the alternative to an excuse is a beautiful opportunity.
Truly the difference between an extraordinary person and an ordinary one is not about their wealth. It’s about whether or not they will let themselves get eaten up with their excuses or take the step to push themselves through all their adversaries and reach their goal.