This is an episode of Crush It Mondays.  Each week, I’ll bring to you an inspiring message, habit, or contemplation to get your week off to a powerful start.  In this week’s episode, I want to talk about excuses.

Excuses can show up in several forms.  Procrastination is one of the main ways excuses show up.  We give a reason as to why we can do that thing later.  And for some things, procrastination is just a hop, skip, and a jump to never getting that thing done.  Other forms of excuses show up as a reason to let yourself off the hook.  The challenge is figuring out when you actually SHOULD listen to your excuse because your body is telling you something, and when your excuses are a form of procrastination, laziness, or even fear of failure, losing time, or not knowing how to get started.

First, let's talk about big picture excuses- excuses that we make to avoid bigger life changes.

Figure Out What's Really Holding You Back

Here are some common excuses I hear or that I've caught myself saying. Try to decode what you are really saying instead.  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!).
  • You're really saying "I'm afraid I'll get hurt." 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
• It's too cold, hot, I'm too sleepy, I have to much to do... excuses not to exercise.  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.
• 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.

Some of the excuses I just mentioned are for bigger picture things.  But what about smaller things too?  I am the worst about procrastinating with writing: blog posts, articles, books.  I also have been known to procrastinate getting out on my bike, meditation, going to the gym, cleaning the garage, listing stuff on craigslist.

What should you do to be stronger than your excuses?

The Hardest Part is Getting Started

First, identify that you are in fact making an excuse. Just being aware that you are doing it helps, and try to figure out what the real issue is in the first place.  The hardest part for most people is simply getting started.  In chemistry, physics, or even an electrical impulse in the body, there is the activation energy, that is, a minimum quantity of energy required to

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