Are You Making Progress Or Making Excuses?

Your ego loves you, it truly does, but it can also hold you back. Your ego isn't your enemy but can keep you from living your desired life.

The ego wants to keep you around. If you are breathing in and out, the ego is happy. It convinces you that if you attempt to do anything differently than you currently are, how do you know you won't create a worse situation?

Your ego, survival instinct, and other factors convince you to make excuses for not being successful. If you want to see more fullfillment and success in your life, use the following tips to start creating measurable progress and stop making excuses.

Sometimes, the people around you hold you down. They may not do it intentionally, but they might influence you to take steps backward or to stay right where you are. Though they might affect your behavior, only one person is truly responsible for what you create in life.

You are capable. You have everything you need to get everything you want. When you catch yourself making excuses, look in the mirror. Remind yourself that you control your life and take a step forward.

Progress is progress, even if it is just a single step. Research tells us that you are more likely to achieve your goals when you take a series of small steps rather than trying to create massive change quickly.

Another reason why small progress works to create a succession of steps to a big goal is that your brain rewards forward movement. Your brain sees a small win as a win, and you are rewarded with dopamine and other feel-good chemicals.

A small win moves the needle forward. Small progress is easier to sustain, and as long as you are moving forward, even if it is an inch at a time, celebrate that forward progress. Don't see small successes as excuses to give up.

Are you rationalising not taking action? Perhaps you are justifying staying busy and repeating old patterns because that's what you've always done. The key here is to identify when you are justifying behaviors that aren't moving you forward.

Perfectionism can be a subconscious form of an excuse. You tell yourself that since you can't deliver a perfect result, what's the use in trying? You may as well do nothing at all.

That's a form of the rationalization. You convince yourself that you deserve perfection. You are capable and can produce great results. Since perfection is nearly always impossible, you don't achieve it.

You look at your imperfect but totally acceptable results and tell yourself that's not good enough. You make an excuse to do something else or do nothing at all instead. Ditch perfectionism and remember that good enough is good enough.