We must make a way, not an excuse, if we wish to succeed.

There are many ways that excuses can interfere with your dreams and prevent you from achieving the success you long for in your business and life.

Excuses can negatively influence your thinking, action and results because:

Excuses destroy your self confidence

Have you noticed that most excuses are based on self-doubt? Sit with that for a minute and think about it. How many times have you told yourself you can’t do something before even trying it? Self-doubt means not believing you have the skill, talent, ability, charm, personality – fill in the blank. How many opportunities – big and small- have you said “no” to when you really wanted to say yes but doubted you could do it?

And it’s not just in business. Have you not reached out to make a new friend for fear of being rejected? Or, not joined a group because you didn’t know anyone and wouldn’t fit in?

Each time you use an excuse, it undermines your confidence and can leave you feeling like you’re not good enough.

Excuses serve as blinders

The result is the excuses justify inaction and keep your focus on the negative that makes it okay for you to say no, to back away from the opportunity without seeing the full picture, the real possibility of what you could accomplish.

Excuses prevent you from seeing opportunities for what they are – the steps for you to reach your full potential and achieve the success you want.

When you stop choosing to use excuses…

You can choose to stop living in doubt.

You can choose to see opportunities and say yes with confidence.

You can choose to have more than what you have.

Think about the leaders in your chosen industry. Did they use excuses when faced with adversity or an obstacle? No.

Placing blame on external circumstances or situations instead of accepting responsibility for an internal problem will always sabotage your success.

Let’s take a look at a few of the internal excuses that were part of my repertoire and see if they sound familiar.

I Don’t Have the time.
The phrase, “I don’t have the time” can easily be translated to, “This is not all that important to me right now.” The reality is that we have the time, each of us, to do the things that matter most.

We have the same time allotted each day as Beyoncé, Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey. Twenty-four is that magic number that we all share. If any of the aforementioned individuals used this excuse when pursuing their goals, we may not know their names today. The only things that we can say we don’t have the time for are negative people and useless excuses.

Deal? Deal!

I’m not Good Enough.
Self-doubt and fear are ugly monsters and their favorite meal is your success. Allowing these feelings to stop you is not an option if you want to succeed. Not only are you good enough to accomplish your dream, no one else can do it like you. If you have a driving passion and purpose in your heart, please believe that it’s meant for you and no one else. ‘You can feel your fear and do it anyway.’ That’s the definition of courage and it will pave your road to success.

I’ll do it Tomorrow.
We have all heard the old adage, “Don’t put off tomorrow, what can be done today.” Why push our goals further and further away when we can get to them now? Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now.

If something is important to you, and living the life of your dreams should be, then roll up your sleeves and get to work immediately. No excuses allowed.

I Don’t Have the Money.
Here’s the thing, having zilch in your bank account sucks. I get it, and you have two choices here, to complain about it or to do something about it.

The universe has an amazing way of partnering with us when we are on the road to living our dreams. Speaking ill about money problems never improves our finances and drains the energy of everyone around us who is forced to listen. We must make a way, not an excuse, if we wish to succeed. Begin speaking abundance into your life.

Steve Harvey, Daniel Craig (the current James Bond), Steve Jobs, Dr. Phil, Halle Berry and Tyler Perry have all been homeless. Despite what seemed to be the obvious (lack of money), they remained focused not on their lack, but on their potential to achieve.

It is too hard.
We must ask ourselves if the sacrifice of a little hard work is worth the reward of achieving our dreams. No one ever promised an easy road, and what fun is a road without a few twists and turns anyway?

We have to learn to appreciate the bumps, stumbles and falls for what they are – lessons that help us to grow (if we learn from them) and great stories to share once we overcome them. Saying something is “too hard” is the weakest cop-out. Think for a moment about all of the hard times that you didn’t think you would get through; and here you are. You are already a survivor!

It all boils down to just how much we want it. If we have a strong desire to accomplish something, no amount of hard work (and certainly no lame excuses), will stop us from achieving it.

Final thoughts…
Every time you give an excuse, it cripples you and kills your chances of success.

If you want to improve any area of life, stop making excuses and blaming others and instead take responsibility for your life and actions and go forward boldly. Take charge of you and your life.

Then you’ll make progress towards your happiness and success.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how excuses have interfered with your success and what you did to overcome…looking forward to reading your comments below.