- Geekmaster
-
5,019
- 2020-09-06 09:38:45
- 12 minute(s)
Five Ways To Stop Making Excuses And Take Responsibility
How to stop making excuses and really take responsibility? Do you frequently procrastinate on tasks or projects that you know are important?
We all make excuses from time to time.
This is a simple habit that we use to rationalize “why” we didn’t follow through on a specific commitment. As humans, we are fantastic at picking from a wide range of excuses to limit our capabilities.
We choose to take the easy way out, by making excuses.
WarningWhile some excuses might appear harmless, the truth is that every excuse you make takes you further away from reaching your full potential. What’s more, you’ll end up missing opportunities that you might never get back, as well as fail to build up talents and skills that could contribute to your growth and progress.
Wouldn’t you trade every excuse for the opportunity to be successful?
That’s the thing about excuses. As good as they are, they are a sign you fell short of your intended goal. That is why it is essential you discover how to stop making excuses so you can live your dream life.
You excuses share one common trait — they are not welcome in your life.
ImportantYou need to understand that the more you use excuses, the harder it will be to get things done. They become your new reality, one where you are too afraid to try, or you are simply too lazy to do something.
Why not take open up and take your responsibilities?
It’s important to recognize when you’re making an excuse that isn’t valid so you can learn more about yourself and take further action to improve your situation in the future. Below are five ways to stop making excuses and take-up your responsibilities to achieve your goals much faster.
Fight Your Fears
One of the reasons people make excuses is because they’re scared to do things they have little or no knowledge of. They’re afraid of making a mistake, failing, or suffering serious consequences.
You will want to overcome your fear of the unknown to stop making excuses.
WarningIf you’re afraid of taking on responsibilities you’re not familiar with, know that while there’s a risk for mistakes, there’s a possibility of getting it right, too. And though you may not be very familiar with something, you can always research, plan and prepare so you can maximize your chances of successfully accomplishing it.
Everyone has their weaknesses.
ImportantWhen all we do is focus on our weaknesses, it opens us up to reasons why we’ll fail which will inevitably lead us down the path of failure and more excuses as to why we didn’t achieve what we set out to do.
It’s important to recognize what our weaknesses are so we can work around them to allow us to focus on what we’re good at.
That way, we make less excuses and feel good about what we can achieve instead of feeling bad about what we can’t change.
People are often afraid of things because they don’t understand them or they are lacking all of the information they need. The good news is that the more you educate yourself about a challenge or process, the easier it will be to overcome a fear. It doesn’t matter what obstacle you’re dealing with — somebody, somewhere has probably gone through it. All you have to do is find out how they overcame it and your fears/anxieties will be eliminated.
Taking steps into the unknown is difficult.
ImportantYour mind is focused on keeping you safe, and as a result, it is bombarding you with images of the worst-case scenario.
When you take accountability for the results in your life, the answer to any obstacle should be the same.
While you may not know exactly what your future entails, you are comfortable knowing that you will rise to the challenge. Whatever that challenge may be, you know you are going to learn the skills necessary to succeed.
Stop Comparing Yourself To Others
Why is it a bad idea to compare yourself to others, especially when it comes to making excuses? It’s because you can use other people’s talents, skills, and circumstances as excuses to not do something.
You are your own person and you should embrace that.
ImportantPeople can say whatever they want, but as long as you are content with yourself, you won’t be needing any excuses. People often fear being compared to others who they perceive to be more talented or better than themselves.
You’re a unique individual and so is your journey.
That’s why it’s unhealthy to compare yourself to others and make excuses of “not being good enough” simply because you feel like you don’t measure up to someone else’s achievements. Remember, the only person you should compare yourself to is you! By doing so, you’ll focus on being your best self and of course, you’ll eventually get there.
If you want to become a better person, you need to learn to accept yourself and be comfortable with what you do.
WarningWhen you need to complete a task in your life, big or small, you can quite often be the ‘victim’ of comparison. Often, when you make up an excuse, the reason behind it is to avoid feeling underestimated or humiliated by others.
No matter how much people compare you to others, you must always remain your confident self and lose the excuses for not doing the things you love. Most super glamorous and successful people have worked extremely hard to for the lives they have. They had their own struggles in life just like you.
Comparing yourself to others can be a sign that you have low self-esteem.
When you compare those who are where you want to be to where you currently are on a daily basis, it can be extremely detrimental to your success and well-being.
Focus on your strengths, and get into the mindset of gratitude.
ImportantBeing grateful for the things you have in life and the wonderful opportunities that are available to you will start to change the way you feel about yourself for the better.
Take Responsibility
Being responsible requires acting on your ability to respond to things that happen. It involves using your power to change and to offer the most practical responses to life’s everyday problems.
Taking personal responsibility refers to taking ownership of your own actions and their consequences.
ImportantTake ownership of the control you have over your actions and ability to make decisions and set your own priorities. If you are unable to accept responsibility for your actions or mistakes, it is very hard to gain the respect of other people.
When you take responsibility for your failures, you’ll be able to focus on not repeating those mistakes, and more importantly, learn from them.
WarningIf you fail to take responsibility for your shortcomings and mistakes, you’ll end up making excuses about not having “good luck” or worse, blaming other people or things so as to avoid taking ownership of your mistakes.
Indirect responsibility involves moving beyond yourself to take necessary action to help other people. Having this type of responsibility reveals a factor of your character that shows you don’t make excuses when faced with a task.
Taking responsibility for yourself raises your awareness to potential reasons why you haven’t gotten to where you want to be right now.
ImportantIt makes you reevaluate life and come up with solutions. It gives you all the power to make changes in your life and eliminates the potential for any new excuses you would usually come up with.
Blaming other people might make us feel better in the short term.
But it’s stopping us from realizing the truth behind our setbacks and struggles. Once we start to accept that we are the cause of most of our struggles in life, we’ll stop using the excuse of blaming other people and start to dig a little deeper as to why we’ve been unable to move forward.
Leave Your Comfort Zone
Uncertainty can be scary for some people. Especially if you have an intolerance of uncertainty. Anyone with ambition who gets closer to their dreams will start to feel a little uncomfortable. That’s because whenever there’s a big change on the horizon, uncertainty will persist.
Life isn’t meant to be comfortable. It’s meant to be joyful, beautiful, and fulfilling. There’s a difference.
ImportantThe things you have to do to achieve your goals might make you very uncomfortable. But feeling uncomfortable isn’t a reason not to do something, and using it that way turns it into an excuse.
It’s impossible to be completely certain about the future or the outcome of anything.
So instead of trying to avoid uncertainty, start to become familiar with the feeling of being uncertain of where your journey is taking you. Embrace it and you’ll start getting used to feeling uncomfortable with uncertainty.
The most dangerous aspect of your comfort-zone is the fact that it can feel so… comfortable. Your comfort zone is filled with habits you have grown accustomed to. The problem with staying in your comfort zone is that the changes you want to make in your life require you to leave it to expand your horizons.
Sure, things may go wrong. But, things may also go very right.
WarningThe unknown can be scary, but so many good things can come into your life from the risks you take in areas that are unknown to you. Don’t just assume that anything that is unknown to you is going to turn out to be a negative thing.
Get used to stepping into the unknown by doing it more often.
ImportantBreak up your daily routine by taking a different route to work or going to a new exercise class. Preventing yourself from falling into a strict routine in the first place or disconnecting from your internal autopilot will help you welcome the unknown rather than fear it.
Reflect On Your Excuses
A lot of our excuses don’t really feel like excuses to us. They feel like cold hard facts. So we sometimes don’t even know we’re making excuses — we think we’re just explaining why we’re in the situation we’re in.
The first step towards achieving your goals is to acknowledge that you’re making excuses.
The reality is, the excuse is masking the real reason why a person can’t accomplish something. If you are unsure, ask yourself this question: If you were to succeed and accomplish what you want, what’s the worst thing that could happen? List off every worst case scenario and you’ll likely recognize a theme. THIS is the issue you need to tackle.
You will want to scrutinize the excuses you have made and the reasons you made them.
ImportantThis is a funny but practical step you need to take. The truth is if you want a sincere result then you must be sincere with yourself. Ask yourself “why did I make these excuses”? Also write down how those excuses prevent you from making progress.
The first step to stopping making excuses is to examine how much you view life as being in your control. Excuses are often made to shift blame away to circumstances beyond our control. Internal locus of control is the extent to which you assume responsibility for your actions and believe you can control your life. Having an internal locus of control better focuses you for future success.
Reflect on why you’re really making excuses to not get things done.
ImportantBecause getting to the root of it is key to stopping your bad habits. Once you discover your reason for making excuses, think of ways to address it so you can stop making excuses. Sometimes, merely being aware of the reasons is enough to stop the habit.
Believing in yourself plays an important role in whether or not you are able to achieve the results you want in life.
You have to be able to envision yourself reaching your final goal in order for you to believe it will actually happen. Take a few minutes to list the successes you have had in the past. Sometimes we forget how successful we have been in the past.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, sometimes people get so used to making excuses that doing so is their default answer to everything. They hardly consider actually saying “yes” or taking on responsibility.
So many people are just wired to come up with one of the excuses that they hold handy.
WarningIt is important to make the best of every situation instead and never make an excuse that is not valid. There are endless excuses we can make to delay our dreams.
Excuses don’t help us in the long run, they inhibit us.
ImportantSo if you are really passionate and determined, you will stop making excuses and start pushing yourself to your fullest potential. Reaching for your goals by overcoming excuses can help you live life without limits.
It might not be easy to overcome the excuses, especially if it has gotten to the point of becoming a bad habit.
But here’s the thing, bad habits can be broken! So be patient, stay optimistic, and most importantly, press on — even when it feels like you’re going nowhere.
You are in control of a great many parts of your life.
ImportantYou are the creator of the results in your life, and if you do not like the results, learning how to stop making excuses is the first step to changing them.
When you take responsibility for your life, an amazing thing will happen: you will start to think of ways to change it.
Before you know it, you’ll be punching all your excuses in the face and evolving into the best version of yourself. Go on, you got this! Do you have other ideas to stop making excuses in life? Let us know in the comments section below!
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