You know you have them! Your list of best excuses that are stopping you from starting the things you have been putting off for ages like your business plan, exercise or a healthy dietary program. Excuses are funny things. To the person who created them, they are justified and valid. We stand by them even though they prevent us from achieving our goals and dreams. When you are employed our excuses can be few and far between. Why? Because we are accountable to someone. Deadlines and KPI’s keep us in line. If we don’t meet them then there is an underlying understanding that we could lose our job.
It is important to start learning to keep your agreements to yourself.
When it comes to our personal goals or when we are running our own business, the scenario is slightly different. All agreements are made with ourselves. As such, we tend to easily break that agreement if something comes up or we don’t feel like it as we perceive there is not much of a consequence. But there is. Every time you break an agreement with yourself, you diminish your self worth and trust in yourself that you can do anything, no matter what you come up against. It is important to start learning to keep your agreements to yourself.
Pick an area of your life that you would like to make a difference to. Write out all your excuses (even the ones you think are really valid and true) on why you aren’t taking the steps you know you should.
The next step is to then write out solutions to your excuses. Get creative. If you are busy, then cook in bulk and freeze it. If you are time poor, go and get an exercise DVD so you can exercise in the convenience of your home. If you are finding it difficult then this is where regular appointments with your coach, accountant, naturopath or personal trainer may be beneficial. The act of giving our word to someone else to have things completed often assists us in achieving our goals step by step without excuses! What is your best excuse and how are you going to overcome it? A recent one of mine was using long hours as an excuse for not exercising. I threw myself in the deep end, signed myself up for a biathlon and have been exercising ever since!
