Excuses can show up in several forms, especially when it comes to following through with goals and commitments. The biggest excuse often comes in the form of procrastination. We say we will do something later and then we never do it.

Other forms of excuses show up as a reason to let yourself off the hook. Maybe you feel like you're too tired, too lazy, too unmotivated, or you just hate doing something.

First, I am going to talk about big picture excuses- excuses that we make to avoid bigger life changes. Next, I'll talk about how to decide if the commitment we made is true commitment or just an interest, and how to make stronger commitments.

FIGURE OUT WHAT’S REALLY HOLDING YOU BACK

Here are some common excuses I hear or that I’ve caught myself saying. Try to notice your own narrative around excuses and the broader meaning behind those excuses. Here are a few examples.

• I’m too old to start (I hear this a lot with mountain biking… NOT true! My dad started in his 60s. My father-in-law is in his 70s and mountain bikes!). If you listened to my podcast with Ian Marshall, he started ultra-running in his mid-40s and is running and traveling the world full-time as someone in his 50s.
  • You’re really saying “I’m afraid I’ll get hurt” or you have a fixed mindset about improvement and aging thinking "I don't believe that I can improve as I age." Hire a coach, take babysteps, realize that you are looking at worst-case scenarios and it’s probably not true.
• I don’t know how to do it.
  • You’re really saying: I don’t know how to do it right now. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to figure it out. I’m afraid I’ll waste my time trying to learn if it doesn’t work out. I don’t want to spend the time. Meet the internet. You can learn how to do pretty much everything if you’re willing to put in the time. If you're not willing to put in the work to figure something out or seek help from someone, you may not be as interested in the goal as you originally thought. It's okay to not know how to do something, but the only way to make forward progress is to start. We also worry about imperfect progress and wasting time as we try to figure out how to do something. The time spent is part of the investment.
• It’s too cold, hot, I’m too sleepy, I have too much to do… excuses not to exercise, do housework, or a project. What are you really worried about? Are you tired, stressed, burnt out, or injured? Those are times you might need a break. You probably are really saying that you don’t want to be uncomfortable. Change your momentum to find out. There are so many times you don't feel like doing something and wait for motivation to strike. You've probably heard me say this many times but motivation follows action, not the other way around. Get started and then decide if you're too cold, too sleepy, or too overwhelmed instead of letting those excuses stop you from starting in the first place.
• I have already spent years in school or in my career dedicated to this path. I can’t change now.
  • You’re really saying that it is hard to start over and you’re afraid of the sunk cost of time and money, but you can always change. You also might be avoiding discomfort, temporary loss of identity, fear of not knowing what to do next, but you can almost always change. Change is hard and it takes work, but it’s worth it.
• I don’t have time
  • You’re really saying you won’t make time. You might have to cut something else out, but if it’s important you always have time. Sometimes you have to be brut

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.