How to Stop Making Excuses

We all want the good things in life. We want to succeed, be happy, to fulfill our greatest potential; all of which hold the key to our long-lasting happiness and success. However, if this were easy, we would all be living our best lives today, and all of us would be successful and happy.What keeps most of us from our greatest potential is not simply life being ridiculously unfair, it’s our excuses. We are all given the same hours in a day. Yet, still, many people are unable to maximize their time and opportunities because of their excuses.It’s very easy to make an excuse and believe it to be the truth. One study from the University of British Columbia confirmed that the human brain is innately attracted to doing what is easier. Making excuses comes at a lesser cost than working hard and taking action on our goals. Our brain’s first instinct is to resist difficulty.This is why making excuses is convenient and easy to do, which gives us an escape from challenging tasks. However, we all know that making excuses won’t get us any closer to our goals in life. If you constantly succumb to the path of least resistance and don’t challenge yourself to greater heights, what are the chances of growing into a better person and becoming the best version of yourself?It is very important to overcome this bad habit. Making excuses will stunt your mental and emotional growth. It is one of the biggest mental blocks that is stopping you from enjoying many opportunities in life.Learn how to stop making excuses with the following strategies.

Table of Contents Be Accountable for Your Success In Life Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Create Action Steps to Achieve Them Challenge Yourself Improve Your Self-Worth Celebrate Small Wins Keep Going, Don’t Stop

Be Accountable for Your Success In Life

Nobody else is responsible for your success in life. You have to learn how to overcome obstacles and challenges, rather than excusing them away. If our first instinct is to make excuses, we will never become successful at anything. If we take responsibility for our goals, we will persevere. Tenacity, not excuses, will ensure our success in life.

Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Create Action Steps to Achieve Them

We need to create goals that are S-M-A-R-T enough. Goals should be ‘Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely’. With clear goals in mind, we can then take action towards making them happen.If your goal is too big, you’ll most likely feel overwhelmed, so make them attainable to start. Sometimes you can sabotage yourself by making an easy excuse that it’s all too much or too hard.The key is to break your goals down into smaller goals which makes them easier to accomplish one task at a time. In order to win against the many obstacles that will challenge you along the way, create a strong vision of your end goal. This will support you when the bad excuse habit wants to kick in.

Challenge Yourself

How you will be able to really win against the habit of making excuses is to challenge yourself constantly. Practice self-discipline and remind yourself of what will or won’t happen if you succumb to making an excuse. Remind yourself constantly of your goals and the sacrifices you need to do right now, in order to achieve them.

Improve Your Self-Worth

It takes a healthy sense of self-worth to fuel your confidence in order to achieve your goals. It will enable you to achieve your desired results with more confidence in your ability to do so. Know you can do it and praise yourself.

Celebrate Small Wins

Motivate yourself by celebrating small wins. Don’t take your efforts for granted, instead, give yourself little rewards that will keep you moving towards your goals. Always celebrate your progress, and don’t look for perfection, or make excuses that you’re not perfect. No one is, and it’s not what matters.

Keep Going, Don’t Stop

You really just need to keep going, even when the going gets tough. We all feel like some days we need more motivation, or more energy, or more inspiration.Listen to yourself and try to understand why you’re feeling like this. On days when it’s easier to make excuses than make progress, give yourself time to process and reflect on your actions. Remind yourself to keep moving forward, and remind yourself you don’t want to stop until you succeed.