Loren Lahav
How to Suffocate Your Excuses - Loren Lahav | STAY TRUE CEO

How to Suffocate Your Excuses

If you want to change your life and live out your dream, there’s one thing you MUST do.

Suffocate your excuses.

It doesn’t matter what your excuse is, whether you just had a baby, you’re working 60 hours a week or you’re struggling with an illness.

An excuse is an excuse, and they all share one thing in common: They prevent you from getting results.

You can get results, or you can make excuses. Which will you choose?

I’m willing to bet you’re like me … and you want the results!

I’ve made my share of excuses over the years, but ultimately I decided that I didn’t want to regret not doing something because I couldn’t over my crap.

So I suffocated my excuses and moved forward with building my business and creating the life I wanted.

Here are five steps to help you get over those excuses and start living your dream:

1. Take the power out of it.

Acknowledge that your excuse is just that—an excuse.

An excuse is not a valid reason not to do anything. It’s just your fear talking.

When you realize that your excuse is just a bunch of words that are masking your fear, it starts to lose its power.

There’s no reason why you can’t do anything you want. There are always small changes you can make or resources you can use. There’s a way around everything.

Maybe you need to hire a babysitter for a few hours a week while you take care of business. Or maybe you can offer to watch your friend’s kids for a few hours a week while she returns the favor later.

Maybe you need to sneak work in early in the morning or during lunch.

Or maybe instead of hitting the gym every day to achieve your health goals, you climb the stairs during your breaks at work.  

Tell yourself that your excuse is NOT real and it is not going to define you or hold you back anymore.

Squash your excuse and get busy!

2. Go for it—excuses be damned.

Take action. Take small steps in the direction of your dream.

When you feel that little voice creep up inside of you telling you why you can’t do it, tell yourself that you don’t care and that you’re going to do it anyway!

What’s the worst that can happen? You fail? There are worse things than failing. Just ask any entrepreneur or successful person you know!

If you fail, you’ll learn from it and you’ll recover and move on. And who knows, maybe that failure will put you on a path towards something even better.

But … what if you …*gasp*… succeed?

We tend to think of all the reasons why we shouldn’t do something and we forget about all the reasons why we want to do it.

Will you be able to buy your dream home? Will you have more freedom to travel or spend time with your kids? Will you help others and make a difference in the world?

Remind yourself of all the possibilities and all the great things that could happen if you just try.

Which would you rather do—go after your dreams and struggle? Or never go for it and always wonder “what if”?

3. Make your excuse your reason.

Years ago, a friend of mine overheard a conversation I was having that made him realize how much Juice Plus could help me. “That’s it,” he said. “You’re coming with me to our conference.”

With three small children, I had tons of excuses not to go. But I decided to make my kids the reason instead of the excuse.

Going to that conference was one of the best decisions of my life. After that day, I decided to go “all in.” I grew my business in what little time I had, and as a result, I was able to provide a better life for my children.

Make your excuse YOUR reason.

Don’t have any money? That sounds like a great reason to go after that business opportunity! You won’t improve your financial situation with excuses!

Feel sick and tired? That sounds like a great reason to start exercising and improve your health!

Let those excuses put a fire under your butt to get moving!

4. Change your vocabulary.

Words have power, and without even realizing it, sometimes excuses creep into our everyday conversation.

If you ever catch yourself saying, “I’d love to do that but…” STOP! Eliminate that “but” from your vocabulary!

Instead, say “I’d love to do that!” and then find a way to do it!

Whenever you find yourself saying, “I should do that…” say, “I WANT to do that and I WILL!”

Don’t let those “buts,” “shoulds,” “maybes” and “somedays” get in the way of living the life you really want!

5. Don’t listen to other people’s excuses.

It’s hard to live an excuse-free life, and there are outside influences that will try to drag you down. Don’t listen to them!

When you hear someone else talk about why they can’t do something, recognize it as fear and don’t let it affect you.

When someone else criticizes what you are doing or tells you can’t do something, forget about them!

When I wrote my first book, I knew it was a little crazy to think I could do it. But I had a message that I wanted to get out there and I knew I had to try.

Whenever someone said to me, “What are you doing writing a book?” I just didn’t listen. It was my dream and I didn’t care what anyone thought about it!

So, what excuses do you have that you need to throw away?

What action will you take to suffocate those excuses and move forward? Share it in the comments!

Remember, those excuses will get you nowhere. So kick them in the butt and go for it!