Overcoming barriers!

Eliminate Excuses

Posted By Bob Greene on February 16, 2012

A good bit of what I do for a living is helping people overcome excuses. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about excuses—and even more about the people who make them.

For example, I remember doing an initial consultation with one client a few years back that went something like this: I explained that inactivity was a large part of her problem and that she would have to start to exercise if she wanted to be successful. She reasoned that she just didn’t have the time. I tried to point out that she could start with as little as 20 minutes in the morning. She quickly responded that she was not a morning person. It wasn’t until later on, when I was going over how intensely she would have to work out to see results, that I found out the real reason for her resistance: She did not like exercise at all.

Excuses are simply a way for people to avoid change. They are an attempt at justifying the current way you live your life. They are a distraction from the real root of your unhappiness. When someone makes an excuse, I no longer hear the actual excuse—what I really hear is: “I’m not ready or willing to change." As long as you’re using excuses, you won’t achieve weight loss success, or success in any area of your life.

The fact is, losing weight usually requires making some pretty significant changes to the way you think and to the way you live your life. There’s no sugar-coating it: Change is hard, and so is achieving permanent weight loss. The basic rules of weight loss—expend fewer calories than you consume—don’t change because you don’t like some aspect of the process, whether that’s increasing your activity or cutting calories.

So the next time you’re ready to list all the reasons you can’t make it to the gym, or you have to skip your regular walk, or you aren’t able to cook a healthy meal for yourself, stop and ask yourself some important questions:

• Why are you still holding onto excuses?

• Are you afraid of change?

• Are you afraid of letting go of what is comfortable and familiar, even if it’s keeping you from your goals?

• Are you afraid of failure, or even of success?

• Are you really ready to change?

• Are you prepared to do what you need to do to realize your goals?

When you discover the answers to all these questions, you can begin to let go of all your excuses once and for all, and focus on starting the real work of making meaningful changes in your life. I can always tell when someone is ready to do this—it’s when they are all out of excuses and are willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goals. And I must say, when this finally does happen, it’s a beautiful moment.

What excuses are holding you back from achieving your goals? How can you work around or overcome them?