Excuses are deadly. Don’t make them.
When you make an excuse, you’re giving yourself permission to fail.
People who want to succeed never say “I can’t” or “I couldn’t” or “It wasn’t my fault.” Those statements are made by people who find opportunity too hard to handle.
Many people believe that if they have an air-tight excuse, nobody can blame them for not doing better. If they honestly don’t know something, can’t understand something, or are unable to figure out how to take the next step, then it must be okay. It’s fate. Circumstances beyond their control have kept them from doing better or becoming more. Everyone else will understand.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Excuses are things we hide behind so that we can die a slow death. They don’t give us cover, they expose us as cowards. They show off our laziness and our sense of entitlement.
If we want to accomplish more, we need to turn off the TV and work harder. If we want to lose weight, we need to cut the crap out of our diet and put in the work. If we want happiness, we need to realize that now is the best time of our lives for achieving that, and go out and do it.
Tell yourself that today – just today – you won’t make excuses. That you’ll make a commitment not to let your forward progress get stopped by a problem, but that you’ll find away over it, under it, or through it. Count how many times you start to say you can’t, and tell yourself (even if you don’t believe it) that you can.
Don’t let excuses kill your chance to be happy and successful. They have no power over you except the power you give them.
Steve Skojec is a husband, father, storyteller, writer, and podcaster who dabbles in photography, filmmaking, and graphic design. His commentary has has appeared at outlets such as The New York Times, Foreign Policy, USA Today, The Washington Post, Fox News, and The Washington Times. He lives in Arizona with his wife Jamie and their many children.