How to Stop Making Excuses

Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better.

Not managing your time and making excuses are two bad habits. Don't put them both together by claiming you 'don't have the time'.

Most people don't have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses and they talk like victims.

How to Stop Making Excuses

STEP 1;
Set a goal and prioritize it. List all your excuses for why you have not, or cannot, accomplish a particular goal. Now, go through each one, and find ways to get around, or solve, each one. There is always a way, but as long as those excuses sit in your head without being addressed, they remain obstacles.

•Example: "I don't have any talent." Oh, yes you do! Talents of others that you may admire have all been learned, practiced, attempted and improved just like the educational process develops your general abilities.

•Example: "I can't exercise because I'm too busy." Organize your schedule to allow you to exercise. Try incorporating exercise into your daily activities: instead of driving, can you walk or bike? Use the stairs instead of the elevator?

STEP 2
Check into your opportunities. Don't accept any reasons to procrastinate (like the weather or your environment). If you find yourself acting like the world is against you, almost as if the world is trying to stop you from getting ahead, you may be a pessimist.

•Be a positive thinker: Be Optimistic.
•Improve yourself and strengthen your character: Strengthen Character.
•Decide to live in the moment: Live Urgently.

STE 3
Stop procrastinating using self talk. The way that you view a task and describe it to yourself has a big impact on how you'll approach it, or whether you'll do it at all. The good news is that if you can become aware of these mental dialogues, notice the patterns, and turn them into productive statements, then you are empowered to overcome many unwelcome feelings and behaviors.

STEP 4
Write personal long term goals. Also, set short term goals you need to do to get them done. Be Responsible, accountable (help yourself and your employer to do better), and adaptable to your situation. The most important thing when setting long term goals, however, is to be as detailed as possible. Many people find it helpful to visualize themselves accomplishing and living the goal, almost like a movie playing in their minds. Some people even use self-hypnosis to help with achieving goals.

STEP 5
Set priorities. Use your time, talents, and resources with the people, activities, or things that are meaningful to you. Stop wasting any of those on (unnecessary) things or people that are not helping your life -- or that keep you from moving forward into what you want to be or do. Take a big task, and break it down to the smallest number of steps you can, and tackle each step one by one, like a to-do list.

STEP 6
Question your priorities. If deciding to change a habit does not work within three or four weeks of honest trials, ask yourself what interfered. Sometimes it takes many failed trials to reach a pattern that works because you may run into unexpected obstacles - good valid reasons for the old habit that must be understood and accepted in order to make the change. Ask why you are making the change - if you are not doing it for yourself but to please someone else, it may not bring any benefits at all. Realistic, practical goals broken down into smaller steps that build on small successes to reach a long term goal are the patterns that work.

•How to Simplify Your Life
•How to Stop Wasting Your Life

STEP 7
Stop Hesitating. If you find yourself analyzing, maybe even agonizing over some decision or task, there are some underlying fears that need to be addressed. For example, maybe you imagine the worst case scenario. Or maybe you're simply scared of failure.

*How to Make Decisions - We make decisions every day; everything we say and do is the result of a decision, whether we make it consciously or not. For every choice, big or small, there's no easy formula for making the right decision. The best you can do is to approach it from as many perspectives as possible and then choose a course of action that seems reasonable and balanced at that time. Get some help in making decisions the smart way

-Stay calm. Riding high on emotions, either positive or negative, can impact your ability to make a rational decision. When you have any decision to make, the first step should generally be to stay as calm as possible. If you can't stay calm, put off making the decision until you're thinking clearly.

-Get as much information as possible. Most decisions are made better when you have enough information to make an informed decision. Making decisions, especially if they're about important topics, should rely on logic.

-Weigh risk vs. gain. Generally, the best way to make a decision that can't be sorted out logically is to weigh the risk vs. the gain. If the risk associated with a particular option is great and the outcomes are only minor positives, then that option should probably be avoided in favor of a better one. How much risk goes with how much gain, however, depends on your personal preferences.

-Have a backup plan. Make a backup plan in preparation for any negative or unplanned outcome. Think ahead. The best decision makers aren't people who never make mistakes; they're people who hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

-Make a choice. No matter which decision you make, be prepared to accept responsibility for every outcome. If things don't work out, it's always better to have made a conscious decision than to have been careless. At least you can say that you did the best you could. Make your decision and be ready to stand by it.

tips
•No scenario is perfect. Once you have made a decision, carry it out wholeheartedly as best as you can without regrets and without worrying about the other alternatives you did not pick.
•Don't over think it. If you try too hard, you may miss the obvious.
•After your decision is made, new major information may come to light suggesting alterations to or the wholesale reversal of your original decision. Don't be afraid to go through the decision-making process again if this happens.
•Don't get lost in the decision-making process. Give yourself a time limit if you have to make the decision soon or if the decision is relatively unimportant. There is the risk of "paralysis by analysis". If you are trying to decide what movie to rent this weekend, don't spend an hour writing down titles.

•Stay on Task and Be Focused

STEP 8
Check off things on your list as you do them: including doing needed work etc. Perhaps keep a "goals" journal. Feel the sense of accomplishment from getting started. Sometimes when you feel unmotivated, it helps to look back and see all the things you have already accomplished, no matter how small theY are.

Admit and learn from your mistakes and from those of others. Don't let errors hold you back. Sometimes we are harder on ourselves than anybody else is on us. You need to give yourself the flexibility to make mistakes, because much of life is trial and error, and you need to know how to forgive yourself.

Take care of yourself. Take charge and make advancements in all areas of life without making excuses:
•Educational
•Spiritual
•Family
•Career
•Financial
•Public Service

*Stop making excuses and start looking for solutions...
There is always a way.... It may not be exactly how you picture in your head..
But if you just START...
The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, that's the day you start to the top. and You'll get there....

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