Stop Making Excuses

We all do it. I am really good at it.

I make excuses like a champ.

“this is a pile of books I said I would read but didn’t” photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Too many times I find myself in a situation, trying to rationalize why I did not complete a particular task. I may even spend more time trying to formulate an excuse for not completing a task than it would be for me just to go ahead and do the activity. Or I said I was “done” but, maybe 67% is not done.

Does this sound familiar? I highly doubt that I am the only person that does this. So how do we break out of that self-sabotaging behavior?

It is time to own it. Own that activity. You made the mistake of saying “yes” or “I will do that” or any other positive affirmation when someone asks you to do something. We just do not know how to say NO and we have a list of 214 things that need to be completed by tomorrow.

When you say “yes”, you immediately realized in the back of your cluttered mind that you would not be able to complete that activity. Or even better, you said “I can” to a project that you know is not at all fun, or had no intention of having to take on that particular action.

Yet you said you would do it anyway.

Dumb ass.

Now someone has come to collect on your commitment, your weakest moment, and the first thing you do is find an excuse.

Oh hey John, yeeeaaah, I need a little more time. You know a weird thing happened the other day and it totally hijacked my plans. You see this spaceship landed in my front yard and needed directions to …

Sue, I tried to get to the hardware store and pick up that paint, but a buffalo got stuck in the passenger seat, and, well, one thing led to another and we were at the bar drinking and you know, you aren’t supposed to drink and drive…

Stop doing that.

What? Stop promising to do stuff, or stop making excuses?

Yes.

Learn when to say no.

Stop making excuses. Are you afraid? Are you too busy chasing chrome squirrels? Do you need help?

Own it.

Recognize that you A. promised to do something, and B. you were unable to complete the task as you had intended. Now you need to atone for that lack of activity.

“I can fill a book with stuff I haven’t finished — or started” photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Start by making a priority list of activities, er, no. Wait.

First (really first), start measuring all the things you have promised to do. If you do not count and measure the number of times you say “yes” you have probably forgotten the things you promised to do.

NOW you can start making your lists. Create a list of threes. Break it down into a prioritized list of threes. If you do not have this list put together, you need to, otherwise, you just read a story on how to fix the mess you are in, and it becomes #215 on the list of things you intended to implement in your life to make it better.

After that list of threes is prioritized, identify the very first one. Here is where it gets tough…

Now go FINISH the first thing on your list.

Wash

Rinse

Repeat

Go forth and be brilliant.