Stop the excuses – you delay but time will not

Perhaps unusually for a coach, I enjoy listening to excuses. Of course, I will challenge the excuses that my clients offer until they see those excuses for what they are. However, I do love to hear the full extent of the stories that people will tell themselves to avoid doing the difficult things which they know they need to do. It’s not that I live a life free from excuses. In fact, I often enjoy comparing the excuses my clients have offered me with the great tales I have told myself over the years. One of the wonderful things about excuses is that when you finally move past the excuse; you often look back and have a good laugh at what you were telling yourself.

But as funny as excuses can be, they are only funny when you have moved past them i.e. you have stopped believing them. Because as long as you are allowing an excuse to hold you back, it is a major problem. Because while you delay, time does not. Life is a constant journey where you strive to improve yourself and your circumstances. Just like the nature around you; if you are not growing in some shape or form, you are dying.

How excuses cost you

There are many costs which you will experience when you allow yourself to be held back by your excuses. The following are some of the most important.

1. Losing the opportunity

If you are failing to take action, the opportunity often goes away. A lot of the opportunities we receive in life are time limited. Time does not stand still, circumstances change and people move on. Opportunities are meant to be seized but as long as you fill your mind with excuses, your delay tactics may be allowing the opportunity to slip away.

Some simple examples include:

• A business competitor makes a pitch to your prospect before you and wins their business.
• That beautiful man/woman who you are interested in is asked out by someone else while you wait to find the perfect moment.
• While you are considering whether to make an offer on your dream house; somebody else comes along and snaps it up.

While you should always consider your options and exercise due care and attention; there is a massive difference between being cautious and making excuses. While caution may spare you pain; excuses will usually cause you pain.

2. Failing to maximise the benefits

Delays don’t always cause the opportunity to be missed but delaying too long can cause you to fail to maximise the opportunity. With many of the opportunities which you receive in life, the earlier you avail of the opportunity; the more you are likely to gain.

The obvious example here is with savings and investments. I earn the majority of my money online. I draw my money down from my payment processor at the beginning of the week. The first thing I do with my money is to put a percentage into my savings account. I have done this for many years.

Even when I was barely surviving in the early days of my business, I put €10 into my account. It didn’t matter that it was such a small amount because over the course of a year or two it adds up. It would also earn a small amount of interest. As my earnings grew, I gradually increased the amount I would save each week.

I am now starting to see some healthy savings. I have some money to invest and I can make some money from a different stream of income i.e. one which does not require my time. This is not down to being able to save more in recent times; it is because I started the habit of saving by finding something small to save each week; even when I was struggling.

There are times in life when you need to ditch the excuses and; even if you can’t do as much as you would like (e.g. save a large amount) you can still start to do something (e.g. saving a much smaller amount). Over time it makes a really big difference.

3. Missing out on meeting great people

One of the greatest benefits of doing the things you really want to do is that you meet new people. As you share common interests and passions, you are likely to have more in common with these people than others. This is turn allows you to build better relationships.

Think about if for a minute; whether you are looking for an intimate relationship, friendship or business relationship; you are more likely to build better relationships with people whom you have more in common with. And, the best place to find them is when you are doing the things you really want to do, whether in your professional or personal life, because you will start out with some common ground.

Excuses are just one form of procrastination you may be struggling with. You can learn to tackle procrastination with Stop Procrastinating.

Conclusion

You may already know what you want to do in life and you may even know what action you need to take. However, if you are fond of making excuses, it can be very difficult to get yourself to take the necessary action. Excuses are a major problem and if they were a currency, we would all be rich. But if you want to keep growing as a person and improve your life, you need to learn to overcome these excuses because they are definitely costing you. Above, I have outlined some of the biggest costs of allowing excuses to overcome you. So, do your best to identify the excuses you are telling yourself and eliminate them. You can even ask a trusted friend to help you identify these excuses (it’s what I do) as they might find it easier to spot them.