Excuses…we all do it!
So here are some of the most common excuses people use for not taking action towards their personal goals:
I don’t have the time
I’m tired
I’m too old
I tried before and it didn’t work
I’ll start tomorrow….next week….next month….
I’m not motivated enough
I’m not ready
I don’t really believe I can do it
I’m worried about what other people will think
I don’t know how to start
I need to do this first, before I can do that (usually lose some weight before starting going to the gym!)
It’s not the right time – I’ve just got too much going on and can’t really deal with it now
I’m just not confident enough to start
Just one more won’t hurt (sweets, chocolate, alcohol, episode!)
Excuses are great. They give us a reason, the justification to NOT do something, a ‘get out of jail free card’.
Uncertainty, self-doubt and fear are all completely normal emotions when contemplating any kind of change. Having an excuse can make these feelings temporarily go away and make us feel happy in the moment as we have avoided a bit of pain, discomfort and effort.
We all do it and are fantastic at selecting from a huge list of excuses that limit our capabilities and gives us permission to not follow through on something that is important but not urgent. It can become a habit. The odd excuse from time to time doesn’t really matter if, on the whole you are taking small steps towards your goal and are making progress. If, however, your excuse making has become a bad habit and you do it all the time, you may want to seriously look at what you can do to recognize this, acknowledge it and make some changes.
So why do we do it? There are many reasons why we do – here are the most common ones:
You are experiencing fear
Inactivity and familiar patterns get the better of us
Self doubt
You are not ready
You are not motivated enough
You don’t have a specific goal
You compare yourself to others
You’re set in your ways
To find out more about all these reasons and what could be behind them, read the blog Excuses – Why We Make Them
