Top 5 Excuses We Make to NOT Change E10

September 21, 2021

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I am going to share with you the top 5 Excuses we use to not change. Don´t get me wrong, I use all of them from time to time and still, I try more and more not to. And I will explain more about why you should be looking to do the same and stop using excuses for not going after your dream or goal. So let the fun begin.

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I am going to talk through the top 5 excuses I regularly come across.

I might be triggering you a few times throughout this episode – some of the excuses to not change might hit home more than others for you and you might see yourself in them. Don´t shy away from it, don’t try to look away – look at it. Take this opportunity to look closer.

This is the time to be open and honest with yourself. If you have a goal or a dream that you have not gone after, then you might be using one of the excuses that I will touch on – or a version of it.

Excuses help us to stay in our comfort zone. They protect us from putting ourselves out there and potentially getting hurt. But is that comfort zone and that fear more important to you than going after your dream?

Change Excuses Number 1: I am already so busy. I don’t have the time!

This has to be the number one excuse we use. I still use it quite regularly but I try to be very careful how I speak these days about time. We are making a lot of bold statements about time these days without realizing that we are creating our own damm situation through it. By saying things like: “Oh, I don’t have time. I am too busy. Where has the time gone? There is never enough time in the day.” We are literally creating NO time into our life.

I am now more and more careful about what kind of statements I make in my life and try not to speak about time like this. Because we have the same amount of 24 hours as Beyonce and Barrack Obama and they seem to get a lot more stuff done than I.

But the reason why this excuse triggers me is that we do find a lot of time for other things: Like scrawling through Social Media, playing games on our phones or watching one episode after the other on Netflix.

But we don’t have the time to read a chapter in a self-development book?

We don’t have the time to research this course we wanted to take since over a year?

We don’t have time to declutter that wardrobe so we don’t feel like we want to throw up every time we open the door to it?

It’s all about prioritization. I get it if watching the new season of Good Girls is more important than hitting the yoga mat. I totally am with you. But then don’t say you don’t have time for yoga. Just be honest and say that relaxing in front of the telly is more important to you than yoga.

If you were trapped underground and only had 24 hours’ worth of oxygen you wouldn’t check your Twitter feed or chat with friends or spend a little “me time” in front of the TV. You’d dig and dig and dig the entire time.

We are using this excuse so much, that we don’t even realize it anymore. It comes automatically to us. Sooooo, just a bit of tough love here on this one. Next time you hear yourself saying the TIME word, check yourself. Was it really the case that you had no time or did you just make an excuse? (Episode 50)

Change Excuses Number 2: I have heard it all before.

This is an excuse that hurts you the most. If you say some of the following phrases, you might hurt your own personal development and growth. You might be saying:

I know it already.

Oh yes, I have heard this before.
Or Oh yes I agree, or no, I don’t agree.
Somebody mentioned this before.
This contradicts what someone else told me already.

If you are running around with a full cup of I know it all! then there is no room to fill anything else in. And I don’t want you to be already closed off and with a made-up mind. That’s not going to do anything for you. You might be missing out!

Imagine you read a book or take part in training with this mindset. You might be missing just this one thing or a few small things, that you will be able to take away from the training or the book: a new perspective, a new idea or a new idea just packed in different words.

“And what if this one small thing can make a huge change for you?”

But if you are walking around in your life with a full cup and closed off mind, these small things have no space to end up inside of you.

So my huge request is to start walking around in your life with an empty cup. Just imagine how many of these small ideas you can fill into your cup when you are open to them? When you have the willingness to try something new or to see something different from how you have seen it in the past.

“You might have heard it before: If you change the way you think about things, the things you think about change.”

And that’s why we are ultimately here: because we want to change something in our lives. I think it was Einstein who said: Doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity.

“And that applies even more to thinking: thinking the same over and over again and expecting a different outcome, is the definition of insanity.”

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Change Excuses Number 3: It´s too expensive.

I want to be clear that I am not talking about people who really don´t have any money to spend. I am talking here about people who use money as an excuse. There is a big difference.

For example, you might have a dream to produce music but you keep saying for years that all of the equipment you need is far too expensive and you will never afford it. But have you really looked at alternatives: you might be able to buy something used, borrow it from someone or look for other ways to create music.

What about the years that you complained about not being able to fulfil your dream because it’s too expensive: did you make sure to save for your dream? Have you put money aside so one day you can finally go after your dream? No? Well, then your dream cannot really be that serious if you don’t take serious steps towards it.

I live in a country that likes its cars. We love our German cars and we like them to always be new or new-ish. Well I don’t, I drive a 11-year-old French car, but there are many who love their car and spend a lot on it. And some of them then use the excuse of not being able to spend the money on something that leads them to their dream or to the goal they have talking about for years. I am sorry, but if you can renew your car every 2 years, you have the money. You are just using money as an excuse to not get started and to get out of your comfort zone.

For me personally cars don’t matter. What is important to me is the house I am living and working in. Other people will probably look at me and say why do you have such a big house? True, I don’t really need such a house but I want it. And I don’t make money excuses anymore in my life. I have been working a lot on my money mindset the last couple of years and have stopped using money as an excuse. If something is so important to me and a priority, I make sure to get the money or I will just spend it and I won’t spend it on something else.

“And last but not least, I want to touch on the self-fulfilling prophecy that we are creating ourselves by saying things like it´s too expensive. I don’t have the money.”

What do you think happens if we keep saying it? Yes, we will never have the money. It will always stay too expensive. We are creating our own world through our thoughts, beliefs and the words we are saying.

And what is too expensive anyway. What are 1000 Dollars to you? If I go to the shops and I buy a chewing gum for 1000 Dollars, sure that is expensive. If I buy my dream house in the best area where I live and spent 1000 Dollars, that is a bargain. Money is relative (Episode 39).

Just my 2 cents on this topic. Right, let´s move on.

Change Excuses Number 4: I don’t know where to start.

Everyone started at zero at some point. But the difference is that they started and did not wait around and used this as an excuse.

Move backwards from your goal, find out the first steps you can take now and just start. Results come from actions.

“You know I truly believe in manifestation but to manifest something in your life means to take action. I believe in manifestation, not magic.”

The smallest step will make you feel already better about yourself and you will see it is actually not that difficult.

Do you know a situation where you kept ruminating in your head if you should do it if you should give it a go and just start? But then your mind throws all of these curve balls, What if? What if? What if? Quite often in life we don’t get clarity by not doing anything and keep asking ourselves or even others. We get clarity by getting into action.

And if you ask yourself if something is the right thing for you or not? You will probably never find out if you don’t try it out. Just start!

And if you really don’t know where to start, there is something that is called the internet. By now there is an answer to everything on Google. Pick one of them – stop thinking about which one is the best. Go with your gut and pick one and go! Just do it!

Change Excuses Number 5: What if it does not work for me? What if it fails?

On this last excuse, I am actually going to switch to some more empathy 🙂

This one is really hard – we might build up huge dreams and hopes for something and we know we will be soooo damm disappointed if we fail or if it just doesn’t work for us. I know this feeling very well. It has held me back in the past from countless things. And it still does today.

You might not be listening to this episode, if it would have stopped me from creating this podcast. For sure I asked myself: What if it fails? What if I put all of these hours and hours of work into it and nobody listens to it?

In the end, it is still an excuse for not putting ourselves out there, for not trusting in ourselves, for not moving out of our comfort zone.

“And if you think: I am too scared. Join the club! We are all scared.”

But you have a choice: Do you want this fear to hold you back … or use this fear to fuel you to do whatever it takes to succeed.

We covered a lot, you might have agreed with some of it and some of the excuses have been ones that you have used in your life before. And I don’t say that we completely stop using them. It’s about looking closer and being more honest with ourselves.

In the end, it’s yourself that you are hurting with these excuses – because you are creating your life based on them. And if you truly want to achieve a dream goal and bring change in your life, then start looking at these excuses, the fears behind them and the comfort zone you will need to step out of to get it.

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Money is Abundant Energy Episode 39
The stories we tell ourselves about time Episode 50
Don’t work harder, work on yourself instead Episode 76

Learn how to let go of fears, habits and excuses

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