Are You Making Excuses Or Procrastinating?

Are Excuses Dragging You Down?- 8 Excuse Busters

There’s a good chance that you are your own worst enemy, and that is especially true for anyone who finds themselves making excuses for themselves every day in life. If excuse making is a routine then it’s time for you to start taking responsibility.

When you do, you’ll start to see that many of your experiences in life have been the direct result of your outlook and attitude. Before a change will provide you with external results, you must first begin the shift internally. By making excuses, you are disempowering yourself, which simply prevents you from achieving what you are capable of.

The story that you tell yourself will become your reality and they have the power to define you. If you are creating a story of self-empowerment then that will be reality, however, if you are running a negative narrative you are pushing yourself into a reality that no one wants.

There is nothing inspiring about a negative story, it will never help you overcome your fears or achieve your goals. They might keep you safe from harm, but it isn’t the type of safety that you want from life. If safety means you’re missing out then it’s time to take another look at your life.

Are your excuses dragging you down? Here are some of the most common excuses that you might be telling yourself.

• This Is As Good As It Gets

If you believe that anything in your life is as good as it can get, then you have no reason or motivation to strive for more. For example, if you believe that your income as it stands can’t get better simply because you didn’t go to college then you’re just making excuses for yourself. You certainly can’t take your high school diploma to the local hospital and get a job as a surgeon, but your education level doesn’t have to stop you from earning a decent income. Some of the biggest success stories in business didn’t further, their education, what matters is your mindset, resilience and most of all your drive and belief in yourself.

• It’s Too Late

It doesn’t matter how old you are, it is never too late to take a risk and change your life.

Did you know?

• Colonel Sanders was fired from multiple jobs and didn’t start Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was 66.

• Phyllis Diller didn’t start her comedy career until 37.

• Andrea Bocelli of the Four Great Tenors started singing opera at age 34.

• Vera Wang opened her first bridal boutique when she was 40 years old, and is now one of the most successful and famous fashion designers.

• Henry Ford created the first ever car, the Model T at age 45.

• Stan Lee’s (the creator of the legendary Marvel Universe) first comic, the “The Fantastic Four,” became a hit just after his 39th birthday, which turned into a mega-empire of comics, including X-Men, Spider Man and many others.

• At age 45, Jack Weil founded the most popular cowboy-wear brand, Rockmount Ranch Wear, he was the companies CEO until he died at age 107 in 2008.

• Julia Child did not become one of the world’s most famous celebrity chefs until age 50, when she wrote her first cookbook.

• Momofuku Ando invented the legendary instant ramen at age 48.

• Charles Darwin was age 50 when his theory – “On the Origin of Species” changed the scientific community forever in the year 1859.

• Judi Dench, who is now one of the most revered actors in Hollywood, was an unknown until her 60s when she began her role as M in the James Bond film, Goldeneye.

It doesn’t matter how old (or young) you are, you’ll find a way if you really want it.

• People Will Laugh At Me

We’re always so worried about what other people will think or how they will react if we make a mistake. Of course, there are plenty of people standing by ready to laugh, but you have to ask yourself why they feel the need to do so because they’re obviously not having a great time in life either. Those who laugh or bash or hate are usually not doing much with their lives, ignore them!

• I Don’t Have The Time

Time is a valuable resource, a sacred one even. It can be exhausting to put the hours in at your day job and then invest your personal time into a passion project. You’re not the first person to face this challenge, and you won’t be the last, don’t let it beat you.

• It Isn’t The Right Time

That old chestnut. There’s just too much happening, it’ll be different next year. No, the right time is always now or it will never come.

• It’s Too Hard

It probably is hard, but nothing worth having is easy, and if it’s worth having then it’s worth doing. Break your journey down into one you can conquer mentally before you attack it physically.

• There’s too many obstacles

A classic excuse that gets you nowhere. One of the most important mindsets of successful people is “nothing will get in my way.” As the old saying goes, where there is a will there is a way. Overcoming obstacles is just a part of achieving any success.

• I’ve Carved My Path

This is the big one. You have spent years putting your efforts into this path, but is that the path you want? If it isn’t then it shouldn’t matter. You can’t allow your time investment on another path dictate your future paths.

Start eliminating these excuses in your narrative and empower yourself to redefine your journey.

6 Signs That You Are A Chronic Procrastinator

Let he who is blameless cast the first stone… deafening silence. We are all guilty of procrastinating but to varying degrees. Is it having such a serious impact on your life that it’s starting to affect your happiness and ability to succeed? There are signs that may indicate your procrastination problem is a chronic one. Do any of these signs sound like you?

1. Difficulty Coping When Faced With Change

Do you feel aimless and anxious when a project comes to an end? Do you find it difficult to get into another project? Do you find that days, perhaps weeks, will pass before you can motivate yourself to dive in? This isn’t just detrimental to the optimal efficiency of a business, it can also be harmful when you face your home life this way.

2. You Feel Overwhelmed

When you face a new project, do you feel overwhelmed by its size? Do you find it difficult to determine where to start? Do you have trouble finding the trees in the forest? If this is you then there’s a good chance that you put off starting your task because then you won’t need to worry about the stress it brings. There’s one big problem with that… your stress will just increase the longer you avoid it and the project isn’t going to go away.

3. You Are Always Late

If there’s one thing, we can rely on a chronic procrastinator to do its turn up late. That’s right, they’re not known for being punctual, probably because they fail to determine how long particular tasks actually take. They tend to be late for meetings and often miss deadlines or just make it.

4. Your To Do List Is Ridiculous

Do you dutifully set about crafting your to do list every morning and then tick each item off as you complete it? You seem very organized, but for some reason, your list is getting longer and fewer ticks are appearing. You may be a procrastinator, but you also may be over stuffing your list and making your life more difficult.

5. Your Priorities Are All Wrong

You feel as though you’re making headway but looking back what is it that you actually managed to achieve? You’ve indulged in trivial tasks rather than focusing on items of high priority, but no one can accuse you of being lazy or wasting time. Right? It doesn’t feel like procrastination when you’re achieving something… but, it is.

6. Difficulty Making Decisions

Another sign of chronic procrastination is the inability to decide on doing something, details or a projects, when to do, how to do it, or most important, if to do it. Wavering is one of the classic signs of procrastination. Perhaps getting stuck in the planning is a subconscious excuse for never starting.

How To Overcome

Here are some helpful tips to help you overcome your chronic problem.

• Break Projects Down.

It’s easier to handle a project if you break it down into manageable chunks. When you have specific actions to take at each step, getting started will feel less daunting. Get started with just one task and make sure it’s something that you enjoy or simple. Once you complete that you can work through the rest one stage at a time.

• Peer Pressure.

There’s nothing worse than public humiliation so use your peers are a way to keep you accountable to completing your goals and deadlines.

• Medical Consultation.

Procrastinators often struggle with what others think of them. While they are wholly competent, the pressure is too much for them to handle. If this sounds like you then it may be wise to speak to your doctor about anxiety, which could be the root of your problem. Your doctor can advise you on how best to rectify the issue.

So, are you a chronic procrastinator? If you are not sure, take the quiz from Psychology Today to find out, unless you’re working on something more important, hint, hint.

5 Tips To Stop Procrastination

It is truly amazing the tasks that we can come up with to avoid doing what we should be doing. You hate balancing your books so much you’d rather alphabetize your movie collection, or you get caught up watching a TV movie you have seen a dozen times because it’s totally your favorite TV movie of the last decade. We all do it, but how can we stop ourselves from doing it.

1. Focus

Don’t say obviously, because there’s more to it than the word itself. One of the biggest reasons for procrastination is that we are overwhelmed at the prospect of a long list of responsibilities. It’s difficult to complete a task when your mind is worrying about the rest of the list that needs to be done. So, dedicate yourself to just one thing at a time and complete it before you move on to the next thing.

2. Not Tomorrow, Right Now

There’s no better way to procrastinate than by assuring yourself you’ll start tomorrow or the next day. Don’t fall into this trap, once you have decided you’re going to do something and you are focused on one task – do it! If you know you have a lot to do in the morning avoid enjoying an alcoholic beverage, it’s more likely to leave you feeling slugging in the morning, thus unlikely to fulfill those duties you dedicated yourself to.

3. The Power Hour

Any task seems less daunting when you know how much time it’s going to take. So, start arranging your time in chunks where you can dedicate yourself to total project work. Whether it’s gym time, a work project, or organizing the hall closet. You can also try the Pomodoro technique, which has you work in 25-minute blocks before taking a 5-minute break to walk around, and then a longer break after 4 blocks.

4. Shave Your To Do List

There’s nothing wrong with having a to do list, but where the problems arise is when there are an impossible number of tasks on it. Learn how to prioritize your list by day and week so that you don’t feel so overwhelmed at the prospect of what you need to achieve. If it’s something that doesn’t need to be done then remove it from your list entirely because it’s just adding stress to your life.

5. Ditch Distractions

It’s difficult enough to force yourself to something you aren’t looking forward to, but when you’re surrounded by distractions, you’re giving yourself a low chance for success. Put your phone away, close your social media tabs, clear your mind, and dive in. While Podcasts are enjoyable to listen to, it’s difficult to focus on work and hear the content, so if you can’t stand quiet choose relaxing background music that won’t distract you.

Procrastination is usually a result of two things: distraction or a difficulty in getting started.

They both stem from similar patterns, such as knowing you need to do something, feeling stressed out about it, and rationalizing the why of not doing it. It’s a never-ending cycle, however, because you can put it off but when it rolls around again the same thing will happen. It’s time to start clearing the decks and tackle tasks immediately.

Therefore, the next time you have an important job to do and your brain starts suggesting different ways you can avoid it, resist! Don’t give in to checking your email or social media notifications, if you can resist that urge one time you can do it again and again and keep yourself on track.