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Many people miss living their vision because they spend too much time making excuses. It is time to stop letting excuses control you and hold you back from living your vision.
You have the power within you to stop the negative stronghold that excuses cause in your life. The only way to stop the negative effect of excuses is to make an immediate shift in mindset.
Until you make a shift in mindset, you will continue to make excuses that hinder your vision progress. A change in mindset is not a one-time deal, but a daily refreshing of the mind that keeps excuses from infiltrating your progress. Even with the most sincere desire to deflect excuses, you can still allow them to creep in and take over without you ever noticing.
Five Keys
Here are five keys you can implement today that will help you defeat your excuses and live your vision in full effect.
- Take responsibility
The extent to which you live your vision and achieve your goals depends on you taking responsibility for your life. Too many men have a habit of blaming others for their circumstances. They say their parents did not support them, the company did not promote them fast enough, the job market did not provide the right opportunities, and the list goes on and on.
You must always accept responsibility for the things you do and the things you fail to do. Even when events outside of your control occur, you should avoid making excuses and identify the things which you can change to get better results the next time. When you accept responsibility, you take control of your life. Making excuses robs you of your personal power.
You may have to admit that your situation may be a direct result of the choices you made. If you want to live life at maximum capacity, you must take responsibility for where you are, stop blaming others, learn from your mistakes, make any necessary changes, and move forward.
- Focus on what matters
You can take an ordinary magnifying glass and position it in a way to focus the rays of the sun and it will burn a hole in a board in a few minutes. If those same rays are not focused through the magnifying glass, it will only heat the board significantly.
Just imagine the power your personal vision can have in your life and those connected to you when it is focused on what is possible for you.
Why does focus matter so much? With focus, distractions are kept to a minimum and your days are spent in meaningful ways. You regain control over your life and no longer feel like you’re wasting time. I usually advise individuals to focus on no more than one or two major goals at a time. Having too many goals spreads your focus too thin, and makes it less likely that you’ll complete any of them.
Each of us has the same twenty-four hours a day and one-hundred, sixty-eight hours a week. The key questions you should ask yourself are, ‘Where am I focusing my time?’, and ‘Is it where I need to focus?’ If you cannot give definitive answers to these questions, then you may need to refocus.
- Expect challenges
Almost nothing worthwhile in life comes without a fight. Challenges are an essential part of life which should be embraced, engaged, and overcome as they allow you to grow as a person. Whether you like it or not, you will face challenges along the way, so you might as well avoid making excuses and get on with the job of overcoming them.
Excuses won’t get you anywhere at all. Instead, they are a terrible distraction which takes your focus off of your most important tasks and reduce your confidence and belief. Avoid making excuses and face your challenges head-on. You will be more empowered, more confident, and more successful.
If you want to get from where you are in life to where you want to be, you need to avoid making excuses and focus on the tasks that are going to get you there. If excuses were currency, we would all be rich. Excuses provide nothing of value. Instead, they strip you of your confidence, courage, and creativity to meet your challenges with the expectation of victory.
- Develop a support team
Think about the people who are supportive or would be supportive of your vision if you told them. Surround yourself with people who lift you up, not those who drag you down. If you want to do great things in life, you need to surround yourself with a strong support system. You need to connect with people who will support your vision and who will be a listening ear.
There will always be people who tell you what you can’t do. They will provide the statistics and data that will discourage you from living your dreams. And then there is that little voice inside of your own head that says you should throw in towel. Don’t listen to that voice! Believe in yourself. Visualize your success and persevere.
Don’t let anyone keep you from living your authentic life. You know what you want. You know it’s in your heart to create an extraordinary life for yourself and those connected to you. What excuses are currently holding you back from living your best life (intentionally or not)? What steps can you take to disconnect from them so you don’t become trapped in a life of mediocrity?
- Take immediate action
Focus on what you can do in the present moment. Don’t worry about what you should have done last week or what you might be able to do tomorrow. The only time you can affect is the present. If you focus too much about the past or the future you won’t get anything done today.
Do you want to start exercising? Do you have a great business idea? Do want to change careers? Eliminate the things you do from day to day that distract you from taking action, like TV, social media, and listening to naysayers. Take action now. The longer you hold on to an idea without taking action, the weaker it becomes and the more power you give to the naysayers, doubters, and haters.
It is time to stop making excuses and take action. Conditions may not be ideal to move forward, but they usually aren’t. You cannot afford to keep waiting for the optimal conditions because if you do, you will miss your opportunity to shine. Choose today to take action.
Question: What excuses do you need to eliminate to move forward in living your best life?
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