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Excuses suck the life out of success. They are absolutely useless on your journey to follow your dreams. In fact, they are major roadblocks. Excuses send you on a detour away from your true destiny, and the crazy thing is you can’t blame anyone but yourself for them. You can’t shake your fist at some unseen construction worker. You put the big detour sign right in the middle of the road all by yourself when you pulled out an excuse instead of taking action.
The quote above provides a beautiful image. Take all of your excuses and bury them outside. Get rid of them. There is absolutely no reason you will ever need them again. If you decide at some point that you’re bored on the road to success, you are more than welcome to dig up an excuse or two, and you’ll be back on that detour route. However, if you really mean it when you say you want to achieve your dreams, you must be willing to give up excuses for the long haul.
How often do you replace action with excuses? Pull out your journal and write about that for a half hour or so. Can you think of instances within the last week when you pulled out an excuse instead of taking care of business? Did you decide it was too cold outside to go for that walk? Did you blame traffic for arriving late to work? How many excuses did you utilize in the last seven days? Try to come up with a comprehensive list. Then make a plan to reduce the number of excuses you utilize in the week to come.
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Failure has been a topic to ponder in previous months, and now you have a chance to look at it again as it relates to your success. Today you will take a little time to solidify some of your new views on how success and failure depend on each other.
Failure is not optional if you want to achieve success. It is an important ingredient of achievement. As Woody Allen states in the quote above, if you don’t fail, then maybe you’re not doing anything very interesting or innovative. If you want to break new ground, you must be willing to fail. Go toward failure fearlessly. It’s actually desirable to fail every once in awhile. Unlike excuses, failure is not a detour. It is like getting a special jet pack to propel you toward your dreams at a faster rate.
Why is failure an important aspect of success? Write your answer to that question today in your journal. You may come up with a number of different responses. If you’re not convinced failure is an integral part of achieving success, then write about your doubts.
It is a tricky thing to learn. The opposite words play with your mind. You think you want one but not the other. But failure will point you in the right direction to achieve success. When you find out what doesn’t work, you’ve narrowed down the scope of possible solutions. You also find energy in the pursuit of your dreams, and failure is a kind of fuel that drives you toward your ultimate goal. A thousand failures will lead you to ultimate success. Can you say the same about excuses?
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There are three types of people in this world: problem seekers, problem solvers, and problem see-ya-laters. Which one are you?
A problem seeker is someone who likes drama. They thrive in chaos and seem to attract plenty of it. You know who you are. You think life is boring if it’s in balance. You point out the difficulties in your life in order to define who you are and why you have not yet achieved your dreams.
A problem solver is a person who enjoys balance and finds excitement in making the puzzle pieces fit together. They are happiest when providing the answers, not creating more questions. It drives a problem solver crazy to leave things open-ended. The problem solver sounds like the star pupil, but sometimes they are afraid to venture into new territory. They try to be content with the puzzle they’ve completed.
The problem see-ya-later personality is probably one we’ve all visited at some point in time. This person simply hides from problems. If you ignore it, maybe someone else will take care of it . . . or it will go away. Is that a problem over there? See ya later!
Think about these three types of people and then examine how you deal with problems in your life. Are problems guidelines for future action? Or do you look at a problem and see a stop sign? Do you attack problems, attract problems, or run for cover whenever you see one coming at you?
