I think most excuses that 99% of people have are symptoms of a real underlying problem which is they constantly lie to themselves by compromising their standards. That's a huge self-esteem killer. In other words, it kills the belief to believe in yourself, so what do most people do? They procrastinate day after day after day for a long period of time aka 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years etc. So now, being that person who "skips" the gym, "never" takes his shot at his dreams or approaches his dream lady becomes a part of their identity and that's what kills most dreams from my experience.I met this business student about six months ago. At the time, he was doing lots of mental masturbation - plenty of ideas floating around in his head & I sat down with him to narrow one down. We selected one, a software idea that he had been cooking for the past year. Right there on the spot, he called his friend to start on this project and I was CHUFFED to see he had made a step in the right direction.
Or so I thought....
Fast foward to yesterday, I bumped into him, I was bubbling to hear how his progress was.
He hadn't started one bit. ONE BIT.
Joy quickly shifted to disappointment. What the hell happened? You had such a great idea, why didn't you start?
He said that after his call, he actually met up with the friend & shook hands with him. They promised they were going to do something.
And here we are, six months of nothing?
"University is getting in the way, I should do it after uni"
"Oh my product would never work because small businesses are cutting budget"
"You should read this book on agriculture, loads of millionaires are purchasing up land. Now is the time to get into agriculture."
"I have this other idea which I think is better, it has a better CAGR for the next two decades"
"The economy is not in the right place right now"
"Theres a huge montary shift, this is not the time to be making a business"
Excuse after excuse. I just couldn't believe how many he had. It felt like mental barbed wire.
I then said I was going to keep him accountable on this. The next time I saw him, I would be VERY upset if he had not made one step forward.
He then extended his hand to shake on it. I pinched my bridge instead.
I wish I could say this story was made up, it certainly isn't. But, we could make something of it.
What are some of the excuses that kill dreams?
This leads to all kinds of excuses like:
"Oh It's just one pizza". Wrong.
"Oh I'm just not lucky". Wrong. No such thing as luck in business, fitness or anything worth having in life.
"Oh I'll skip prospecting today because I'm tired. It's only one day". Wrong.
"Oh I don't know any rich people". Wrong. You can get your a$$ up and look for them in your richest neighborhood.
"Oh, I don't feel like working out today. Let me skip this one workout. I deserve it!". Wrong. You've been skipping the gym your whole life, you're 70 pounds of overweight and it's day 6 so you deserve it?
You see where I'm going with this? THIS is very true for people who are already doing something, which already puts them ahead of like 70% of the population. BUT what happens then is they start to compromise TO skip what is actually required to move them forward and make excuses to make themselves feel better.
Example: You're on a 90 day outdoor challenge, and your main objective is to walk outside for 30 minutes everyday. No matter the weather, how you "feel" or if you just got fired at your job. So you're doing good, you're on day 36 but now it gets boring, you no longer want to do it so on day 36 you've decided to take a break and eat potato chips while watching Shrek. And guess what? That one decision F*cks up the whole process! Right there you've lost the war.
I know it because I've done it myself in the past. I'm sure most successful people have compromised themselves in the past at some point in their lifetime. But that one bad decision is what it takes to ruin everything for most people(they don't see it though).
Think of a skyscraper like the One World Trade Center in NYC(shoutout to New Yorkers on the forum!).
Think of how much engineering, architecture, electricity, construction and planning all of it requires to build a magnificent skyscraper AND how much time it needs to be fully constructed. Years of work. But guess how long it takes to destroy it? You can destroy it in one minute with a wrecking ball by swinging it a couple of times. It's the same thing with your life.
Which is why so many people are lazy today with no ambition because they've lied to themselves too much to a point where it's a part of them now.