Is there a major lifestyle change you have been wanting to make, but you still haven’t started making it? Have you ever had an amazing business idea that you were so sure would work but you never saw it through? Are you stuck in a rut in your career, but doing nothing to make it better?
What’s stopping you?
I’ll tell you what’s stopping you.
Excuses.
How you define success and goals is up to you and you alone. We all have goals in life, whether it’s starting your own side hustle, losing weight, getting a raise at work, or simply finishing a big house project. However, you must keep in mind that the first hurdle you must cross in achieving that goal is the one you are creating yourself.
Part of the reason so many of us sit on the sidelines watching others succeed rather than focusing on getting ourselves there is the mental block that we create for ourselves. Yes, more often than not, the only thing standing in the way of us achieving our goals is ourselves.
I’m going to be blunt with you: you need to stop making excuses and feeling sorry for yourself!
Stop wishing you were as successful as your peers and start doing something about it! Otherwise, you’re going to sit in a constant state of wishful thinking instead of in an awesome state of reality.
You’ve got this great idea or a goal you’d LOVE to hit, but you just can’t get there. It’s time to stop making excuses, and start making moves!
Here are 8 things you’ve got to stop saying if you want to succeed and achieve your goals:
1 “I don’t have enough time” or “I’m too busy”
There never seems to be enough time in a day. I get it. I feel the same. And the more life elements you sprinkle into the equation, like kids, jobs and other obligations, the harder it is to imagine using any free time you do have on something other than resting. But let’s face it… we are ALL busy.
It’s time to lose that “easier said than done” mentality; time to stop looking at all the time you “don’t” have and start finding ways to better utilize the time you do have.
Have you ever had a bucket list item or goal you really wanted to achieve but convinced yourself you couldn’t for any of these reasons?
- I work two jobs, so I don’t have time.
- I have kids, so I don’t have time.
- I’m going to school and working part-time, so I don’t have time.
- There’s too much to do around the house, so I don’t have time.
- I’m too tired, so I don’t have time.
We tend to feel sorry for ourselves rather than finding a way to make it work. But guess what? People from all walks of life, with all types of jam-packed schedules, make time for what’s important to them.
We also tend to look at our peers with envy, thinking “must be nice” to have time to do X, Y or Z, thinking that they have it so much easier. “Must be nice to…”
- “… be able to start a side hustle or your own business.”
- “… be able to travel the world.”
- “… be able to lose weight.”
- “… be able to make more money.”
Let me tell you, it’s actually crazy irritating when people say things like this because it devalues the time and efforts it may have taken someone to achieve their goal.
Owners of multi-million-dollar businesses didn’t succeed by not putting in the time. People who manage to lose a ton of weight didn’t magically gain an extra hour each day to go to the gym. People who work a full-time job then go home to work on a side hustle aren’t super-humans that require less sleep than you. They have just as many hours in the day as you do.
The one thing they all have in common is that they make time for their goals.
You’ve probably heard the saying “you’ve got as many hours in the day as Beyonce.” I have mixed feelings about this because yes, technically speaking, we do. BUT the girl has got a ton of help in order to make it happen. So, no, I’m not going to be one of those people that tells you that if Beyonce can do it, you can too.
What I will tell you is that if you really want something, you must make the time for it, plain and simple. Otherwise, you’re never going to achieve it. I’m not suggesting that there aren’t people who luck out and get a leg up, because there certainly are. But you can’t obsess over those who have the upper hand because that doesn’t do anything for you.
Success is not measured or limited by how much time you have; success boils down to how you MANAGE your time. Finding ways to improve your time management skills will make you a more productive person. The more productive you become, the more time you will realize that you have.
If you want to lose weight, get up an hour earlier and exercise. If you want to start a side hustle, skip watching the TV after dinner and use that time to work. If you want to take a class, sign up already and work around it!
We all get 24 hours in a day; we all also get to choose how to spend those 24 hours.
2 I don’t have all the skills I need to do it
Say your goal is to start a business. As with any new endeavour, you must know that you won’t know how to do everything. Particularly in the beginning. But that doesn’t mean that you should use your lack of skills as an excuse to not start. It is NEVER too late to learn something new.
When starting a new business, needs will arise that you’d never even expect. Things that will require you to pick up skills you didn’t know you’d ever need. You will have to teach yourself through trial and error, watching videos online, doing a lot of reading, and maybe even enrolling in a couple of courses.
I have been self-employed full-time for 3 years. Before I worked for myself full-time, I did freelance work on the side of my previous job to make more money. Over the course of the 5 years that I have been freelancing, I have learned a lot and acquired many skills that I now utilize with the services that I offer. In fact, many of the skills used for my work are those that I acquired outside of my high school education.
My point is if there is something you want to accomplish but you don’t know how to do it, LEARN.
In starting a business, you will also have to be able to give up some of your control. The most successful people know when to hire people that are smarter than the – people who are experts in areas that they are not. If you only know how to do X, find someone who can help you with Y.
Don’t let your lack of skills prevent you from achieving your goals.
3 I don’t want to fail
It sucks to fail. If we could avoid failing, we obviously would, right? Failure can be disheartening and can make us hesitate next time we try something that challenges us or is a little risky… for fear of failing again.
But, what’s worse: wondering if we will fail, or wondering “what if…?” for the rest of our lives?
Fear of failure is a huge reason why many people don’t even bother running with their ideas. But rather than worrying about what will be lost if it doesn’t work out (time, money, etc.) or how you will be perceived, focus on how you can benefit from the experience of at least trying.
The great thing about failing is that we can learn from our experiences. In a lot of ways, failure makes us better. Maybe your initial idea didn’t work out, but you got an even better, more realistic idea in the process. You learn from a series of trial and error until you find what works for you.
How will you know unless you try? Take the risk.
4 I’m scared of being told ‘no’
But what if you are told “yes”?
For some reason, we are so afraid to just ASK for fear of hearing the opposite of what we want to hear. By avoiding “the ask,” we are prolonging the time it takes to reach our goals.
In this scenario, we will talk about getting a raise. The thought of asking your boss for a raise can be incredibly scary – especially if you feel like you’re going to have to go to bat for yourself, explaining why you deserve it.
How long have you felt like you deserved more money at your job? How long have you wondered what your boss would say if you marched right into her office and asked her for a raise? How long are you going to keep waiting to ask? What do you think will happen?
If she says no, well, she says no. In all likelihood, that’s all that will happen. You will get your answer and that will be that. She isn’t going to turn into a big, scary dragon and breath fire down your neck as you retreat to your cubicle. She isn’t going to decrease your salary or worse, fire you, for asking the question. In fact, she will probably respect you a bit more for the act of trying because chances are, she has been there and can relate. And she will remember what you had to say for yourself when it’s time for your annual review.
If she says yes, well, you just got yourself a raise with a simple question.
If your goal is to earn your worth, you have to be willing and able to go to bat for yourself. If you don’t, who else will?
5 I’m afraid of how I will look
This excuse is often made when you are entering a new territory or doing something that is outside of your comfort zone.
Take the gym, for example. Say your goal is to lose 30lbs but you are inexperienced in the gym. You don’t know how to use the equipment and you don’t know what workouts to do to meet your fitness goals. Furthermore, you’re afraid of how you will look in front of people who do know what they’re doing.
This is a common fear for people new to fitness (and you MUST know that most of the people around you don’t give a damn what you are doing). In a situation like this, you must ask yourself what matters more: what the people around you MIGHT be thinking, or you feeling better about yourself and meeting your goals? At the end of the day, what you do in this situation affects you, and you only. Not others. So even if they were worried about you, you are worried about yourself and that’s all that matters!
This excuse is also used when one is afraid of what friends and family will think when they try something outside of the norm. When trying anything new, it’s important to know that there will always be someone who raises their eyebrows about your decisions.
WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK!? Do you, boo-boo.
Don’t be afraid of what someone may think, because honestly, people who question your choices are also feeling a bit envious that you are confident and brave enough to take a risk that they’d never take.
6 It’s too difficult
Seriously? Enough already!
Nothing totally awesome is supposed to come easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
These days, people want life handed to them on a silver platter. No one wants to work for their successes anymore. No one wants to have to break a sweat, to put in the hours, to feel the stresses that come with accomplishing something great.
Whether you want to lose weight, start an entrepreneurial venture, or clean out that nightmare of a basement… JUST. START.
It is NOT going to be easy. It may not be fun. There will be times when you want to quit when the going gets tough. There will be times when you question why you even took the route that you did. But it’s those that come out with their heads held high with the knowledge of what’s to come that will succeed.
7 I’m not in the mood today, maybe tomorrow
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of putting things off until tomorrow!I know I am.
The “I don’t feel like it today” excuse is the queen of this group (second to “having no time”) because we have all used it on countless occasions, to varying degrees. Motivation (or lack thereof) is something we have all struggled with at some point in our lives. Without it, and without any semblance of direction, it can be hard to even press “start.”
One of the best things you can do for yourself if you’re feeling unmotivated or lack discipline is to create a structured plan and schedule and stick to it. The act of simply starting can be a motivating factor in and of itself.
For example, we work out regularly as a couple. But as life gets busier, we have admittedly let our workout routine slide. When we fall off, it sucks. But, when we get back on, it feels SO good. The act of actually getting to the gym for the first time after a long while is the hardest part. Once we are there, we’re like… “what were we thinking?!”
But we have goals that we want to achieve, so we have to take the time for it, even when we are feeling lazy.
8 I’m not good enough
Without self-confidence, success will be incredibly difficult to achieve. Feeling like you are not good enough goes hand-in-hand with not having all the skills necessary to accomplish your goal.Confidence is key in EVERYTHING.
If you’re interested in starting a side hustle but are concerned that you’re entering a saturated market, filled with people who are much better than you, it’s even more important that you tell yourself that you are good enough. You can’t possibly expect to achieve your goals if you worry yourself with what everyone else is doing.
If you don’t think you are good enough, everyone else will think the same. It’s a ripple effect. One of my favourite sayings is “you are what you think you are”. So, if you want to achieve your goals, you need to believe that you will as you work hard towards them.
Feel the confidence and show confidence. If you do so, you will be one step closer to achieving your goals.
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