Stop Making Excuses: 10 Tips to Take Action

If we want to change our lives, we have to stop making excuses.

Most of us are guilty of making excuses without realizing that by continuously doing this we are only holding ourselves back from happiness and success.

I was guilty of doing this. And if I’m being honest, sometimes I still do.

Two years ago, I was at my lowest. I lost someone very dear to me due to a long-time illness. I had to quit my job because of mental health reasons. I was unemployed, buried in debt, and had no savings.

Yes, I definitely hit rock bottom. There were no words to describe how lost, defeated, and hopeless I was.

I hated my life. I hated every minute of it. Every day I would constantly wake up to unhappiness and despair.

I wanted to change it. I wanted to get back on my feet, move forward, and improve my life. I wanted to be genuinely happy.

I would keep telling myself that I had to do something. I had to get up, fight and move forward. I had to find a job. I had to get my life together. I had to slowly pay my debt. I had to stop living off my credit cards.

My life had to change – but instead of actually doing something, every day I would come up with a whole new excuse to stop myself from taking action.

It took some time for me to realize that by continuously making excuses, I was also keeping myself stuck and unhappy.

The thing is, if we keep doing this, we are only keeping ourselves trapped in this never-ending cycle.

A cycle where we are either too afraid to change our lives, too afraid to take the first step or maybe we are just too lazy to take action and actually do something.

If you want to know how to stop making excuses and finally take action..

Scroll down below to see 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TO TAKE ACTION AND STOP MAKING EXCUSES.

Acknowledge the truth…

I realized that if we want to improve our lives and finally be able to stop making these excuses, we must first be willing to acknowledge the truth.

We have to acknowledge the fact that we are indeed doing this to ourselves – That we are constantly the one making these excuses.

Once you have faced that fact, it’s time to ask yourself why? Why do you keep doing these? Why are you keeping yourself stuck? Why are you holding yourself back? Why do you keep making these excuses?

Change your mindset

Most of us are guilty of being ourselves biggest critics. It’s so easy for us to talk negatively to ourselves and constantly beat ourselves up for all our mistakes.

But the thing is if we continue to hold on to this negativity. If we continue this type of mindset, we will always end up sabotaging our success and happiness.

So instead of holding on to our negative mindset, let’s start reframing our minds.

Instead of saying that I will never be able to do it, let’s say I can do this instead.

We have to motivate ourselves and have faith in our abilities. We have to trust ourselves that we can do it, we can change our lives, we can change our stories.

Stop waiting for the right time

How many times did you turn down an opportunity or prevent yourself from taking action, just because it wasn’t the “right time”?

I’ve always wanted to start my own blog, but instead of actually doing it, I made excuses and told myself that it wasn’t the right time yet.

I’ll tell you this now, the “right time” that you’re waiting for may never come. Because whether we admit it or not, there will always be something that will come up that will eventually conflict with our plans or goals.

If you’re still waiting for the right time, you are only holding yourself back from making the change and you’re not really setting yourself up for success.

I strongly believe that there is no perfect time to change our lives. We have to begin now. We have to take that step now and have faith that things will work out.

We have the embrace the fact that the right time is not going to arrive. So why not just do it now?

Learn to focus on your strengths

Are you also guilty of focusing on your weaknesses?

I am. Every time I’m about to do something important, I have this tendency of focusing on my weaknesses.

So, I’ll tell you this, doing this did not help me. It only made me feel anxious and scared and it just made me feel so bad about myself.

When we tend to focus on our weaknesses instead of our strengths, we are only setting ourselves up for failure. Doing this will not do us any good.

It will only make us doubt ourselves that we end up being too scared to take action and just make more excuses to avoid doing it.

Remind yourself that everyone has their own set of weaknesses.

We can be aware of our weaknesses and not focus on them.

Instead, let’s put our energy into focusing on our strengths and the good that we can offer other people.

Embrace the uncertainty…

Life will always be uncertain. We will never know what’s going to happen next.

I’ll tell you this, I spent a long time constantly trying to control every single aspect of my life. I was always trying to predict the outcome of every decision.

I wasted so much time creating a plan B and a plan C.

Every decision I made was calculated. I was too afraid to take risks. Too scared to face the unknown.

But the reality is, regardless of how much we try to predict and control every moment of our lives – we can’t.

We can’t always know if leaving this job and going after our dreams will only cause us more harm than good. We can’t always know if stepping out of our comfort zone will only lead to things going wrong.

Yes, taking risks can be scary. Stepping out of our comfort zone is scary but it doesn’t mean that the outcome will also be bad. You have to let go of negativity.

We can’t let ourselves settle just because we are too afraid of uncertainty. We must remind ourselves that life itself is uncertain – so we might as well take that risk and have a leap of faith that things will work out.

We must not stop ourselves from growing and from learning just because we are too afraid of the unknown.

Stop blaming other people and take responsibility for all your actions…

I was guilty of blaming others. When I was at my lowest, I blamed others for it.

I kept telling myself that the reason why I was here was because of them.

But doing that only caused more harm than good. I was so blinded by my anger and bitterness that it kept me from facing the reality that I was also the one to blame for everything that is happening to me.

I wasted so much time blaming other people instead of taking responsibility and actually doing something to improve my situation.

So, if you’re doing this, I’ll tell you this now, doing this is just a waste of time.

I realized that we must take ownership of our actions and the consequences that it brings.

Instead of using all our time blaming other people, let’s start taking responsibility for our lives and start taking the first step needed to change our situation.

Embrace failure and be willing to accept your mistakes…

Most of the time, one of the main reasons why we are so afraid of going after what we really want in life is because we are too afraid to fail.

We keep making excuses because we are scared of failing.

I get you. I am guilty of this behavior. Growing up, I was taught that failure was a bad thing.

That my failures will constantly define me.

But I’ve learned that this is certainly wrong.

Failing is not bad.

Failing is normal.

Failing is growth.

Failing is learning.

We all fail.

We must remember that it’s perfectly okay to not be perfect – we were not born to be perfect.

With mistakes, comes learning. With failures, comes growth.

Don’t let your fear of failing keep you from going after your dreams, from accomplishing your goals, and from becoming the best version of yourself.

So go ahead and take that step, make that change, fail, make mistakes and learn from them. Grow and be better.

Start by setting small and attainable goals…

Overwhelm is definitely one of the things that paralyze me and keep me from taking action.

Yes, we want to improve our lives. We want to set goals that will help us find a better job, earn more money, be healthier, but if we allow ourselves to set large goals on day 1, we may only be doing more harm than good.

Setting big goals often leads to us become too overwhelmed that we end up not doing anything at all.

So instead, break down those large goals into smaller goals. Break down those big tasks, into many smaller tasks that are easier for you to achieve.

Stop the comparison game…

It’s so easy to compare yourself with other people. To compare your success to theirs.

When I was just starting my blog, of course, the growth was slow, I felt so defeated and hopeless when I started seeing all these other successful bloggers who have achieved so much in such a short amount of time.

I kept comparing my progress to theirs. Doing this only made me feel worse. It made me feel that I was not making enough progress and that it was just better for me to quit.

When we constantly compare ourselves to other people, we are only keeping ourselves stuck and we are only holding ourselves back because we are too afraid to push forward, thinking that we aren’t really making any progress to continue.

I want you to know this, everyone’s journey is different. We all have different timelines.

Just because you were not able to achieve what they have achieved in that timeline doesn’t mean that you will not be successful.

Focus on your own journey and growth.

Believe in yourself and take that first step…

Believe in yourself, easier said than done right?

Most of us are guilty of doubting ourselves. We constantly think that we are not good enough.

We are not worthy. We don’t have what it takes. We are not enough.

But you know what? All of those things are LIES.

You have to stop doubting your abilities and start believing in them.

I’ve realized that the more you tell yourself that you can’t do it, the harder it will be for you to push through and keep going.

If you want to change your life,

If you want to build your own business,

If you want to earn more money,

If you want to improve your situation,

You have to start believing that YOU CAN!

You are so much stronger than you think. So much braver. You are capable of achieving great things – you just have to believe in yourself, in what you can do, and take that first step.

Making excuses is a bad habit that plagues a lot of people. Yes, breaking bad habits can be difficult, but it is definitely POSSIBLE.

You can break this habit. You have the power to stop making excuses and take action.

Start by doing one or two things. Remind yourself that if you want to change your current situation you have to stop making excuses – that is the only way to move forward, better your life, and be happy.

Visualize your success. Close your eyes, and try visualizing how it would feel like to achieve your goals. Hold on to that image, to that feeling, every time you feel like procrastinating and giving up.