No Room for Excuses

Steven Grayhm

That was a great quote by Steven Grayhm, it could not have been more well articulated.
We all give excuses at some points in our lives either to escape from responsibility or to make ourselves feel better about a failure; we try to console ourselves with excuses when we don’t give our best and when the inevitable happens……failure. From the foregoing, it is evident that our failures stem from the series of excuses we give in order not to hold ourselves accountable and reach for the peak.
How many times have we pointed accusing fingers at others? how many times have we tried to comfort ourselves for doing wrong by pointing to others who had done similar things in the past? how many times have we compared ourselves to others who had failed more than us just to feel better? All these are borne from the fact that, we don’t have anything substantial to live for, we lack purpose and are not driven at all, because no man or woman of purpose will give in to excuses.
Excuses can negatively impact our lives and turn us to losers, quitters, and average people.
consider the following and change your thought process:
1. Excuses are for losers: winners do not give excuses, they don’t pay attention to failure with the intention to embrace and feel good about it, but they learn from their mistakes and try to achieve the same things in better ways, their mentality is that they have learned one way not to do it. In sharp contrast, losers are quick to jump into self-defense and give several reasons why they failed and take comfort in the fact that they tried. But unknown to these persons, trying alone is not enough, we must achieve.

To attain success in anything, a series of trials and errors and failures are required because it is only through these that we learn to do things better and by extension grow. Honestly speaking no responsible person would give in to excuses because it devalues who you are and make others take you for granted. If you said you are going to do something, then do whatever it takes to get it done, those excellent reasons why you were unable to do them are mere excuses, period.
2. Only losers quit: I used this word “quit” here but honestly I don’t like using it. Quitting is the easiest thing to do in today’s world, of course that is not so difficult to understand why: the world and life is moving at a very fast pace now that people who cannot match up quickly resort to excuses to feel comfortable. I have been tempted several times to just quit and take the easy route, life can be so hard but we don’t have to just quit like that; we are powerful beyond measure and we are designed to overcome every obstacle and rise to inspire change, but it comes at a prize, we must be determined because nothing can stop a man or a woman of determination. We have to guard our minds with all that we have got, whenever the thought of quitting comes to mind, we have to remind ourselves that the only thing that stands between our success or dream is that inner lying voice that tells us that we cannot achieve it, we must train our minds to recognize this voice and debunk it and only pay attention to the voice of truth that still resides within us. Ultimately, we are the architect of our lives, choose to construct yours the way you want and achieve your potential.
3. Excuses lead to laziness: no matter how vigorous and/or energetic you are, once you start giving in to excuses, you become lazy and your attitude will become that of apathy towards any and everything. The effects of excuses affect every area of our lives, if you gave an excuse why you hit the snooze bottom when the alarm went off today that resulted to your lateness to that appointment or work, that would translate into you giving several reasons why you didn’t go to the gym, read that book, visited that friend, took yourself out, showed some grace to yourself and others etc. ultimately excuses just give us the bad energy not to get anything accomplished.
When I think about why we give excuses, I think most times it is because of our insecurities and lack of self esteem. Apart from trying to make ourselves feel better, we also want to shield our insecurities under the ugly face of excuses.
Some ways we can get rid of excuses
1. know yourself: take time and examine what your strengths and weaknesses are, no one understands you better than yourself. If one of your weaknesses is not keeping promises then try not to promise at all but if you do, make sure you keep them.
2. Honesty: be honest and realistic about your goals and commitments, don’t set goals based on your friends’ and parent’s way of life, don’t say because Tim goes to the gym 4 times a week so I will do the same; in fact I have a confession to make, about a month ago, I asked my friend Shaun what some of his week’s goals were…in his list he included going to the gym 4 times and I thought to myself, I can do this as well, so I included it in my week’s goal. Honestly, I didn’t even go to the gym once that entire week. Why? Because it was not mine, I copied it. I gave several excuses why I should do other things instead.
3. Be resolved: know what you want and what it will take to achieve it and be resolved to go for it no matter what. This is a very crucial step because obstacles will always come and try to stop you but your resolve will be the thing that keeps you going.
4. Delight in trying: don’t be afraid to try new things and don’t be afraid to fail because we will always fail but the good thing about trying is that we get experiences and from these we can learn and grow and do things better.
5. Be responsible: take ownership of your life and make the best choices to drive it to the destination you want. When you know that this is your life and no one else will do for you what you can do for yourself, stepping up to the plate to act without excuses becomes your way of life.

When We Don’t Act

Our actions give us experiences, whether we savor or detest them, there is a common denominator, they are sure to give us a learning platform on which we can thrive as we journey through life.

To some, experiences are the most important things in life, to others, happiness, knowledge, family, relationships, reputation, love and the list goes on. I am pretty sure that you who is reading this blog post right now do have something you consider very important in life, it might be on this list or out of it; but can we get these things by mere wishes? Can these be attracted to us because we want them? Your guess is as good as mine.

By now, I am sure that you know what I am driving at, life is filled with a series of complexities and most times we make it even more complex by our own decisions. Whether we like it or not, we affect the environment around us either positively or negatively, we are constantly taking decisions that shape our views and opinions about ourselves and others and by extension the entire world. You see, everyone can talk the talk but only a few out of the billions do the talk; here are a few questions to ponder on: why is it so difficult to act? Are we lacking in confidence? Or we are just too afraid to become who we were created to be? Why are we just going with the flow, is it because it is easier? What do we make of ourselves? There are thousands, millions and even billions of questions out there that can arouse our inner-selves and get us thinking about why we do things the way we do them.

You might ask me Bibobra, why is it so difficult to act? Honestly speaking, you should pause right now and ask yourself this question: why is it difficult for me to act? You could find some very stunning and insightful answers to this question that will transform your life for the better. You see, unless we act, put the talk to action, surrender the wishes of our hearts and lay them bare on the platform of action we cannot attain our desires. In my opinion, people fail to act because they are unsure of themselves, lack conviction about what it is that they want in life. Pause for a second and think about this: if some supernatural being were to appear to you right now and tells you to do XYZ and you will become the best chef, public speaker, engineer, student, musician, data scientist/analyst, you name it; how would you react? Would you catch that vision and act? It does not matter how many books you read or how many seminars you attend in a year, what really counts is putting the knowledge and everything else into practice…act on it. Think about this thoroughly and start to put everything you have learned and wanted to do into action right now.

On a larger scale, we all belong here and as such must take responsibility to make the world a better place. When we don’t act because we hold the belief that our actions don’t matter and allow bad stuffs to continue in our families, households, communities, villages, towns, cities, states, and countries we miss the opportunity to be involved and truly make a difference and as such are as bad and irresponsible as the same people who do these things. On the flip side, when we know and are convinced that our inputs are significant to shape the world positively, we become more inspired to contribute our unique talents and gifts.

I want to inspire you to act and exhaust all your capabilities and potentials. Stay on track with your goals and make every effort to become a better and more effective version of you.

What are some of the things that stop people from taking action?

Leave your comments below!

Stay on Track

As we journey through life, we will fall flat and fail completely.

The truth is the bigger your goals, the heftier your failures and this can be frightening but we must not be deterred, because if success is the goal… then failure is the springboard! We must fall forward.

We are in the second month 2018, how has it been with your goals?

If you have being on top of things, awesome! More grease to your elbows, be more fired up to achieve even greater things; if you have fallen short already, is alright to fall short but it is not okay to remain there, so pick yourself up and continue the journey.

Moving forward, give less thought but KNOW MORE and ACT MORE, for until we act, we have no experiences to learn from and better ourselves and others.

Dig deep

I found these insights when I examined the gospel of John chapter one. I am convinced that if you apply them correctly, your life will begin to take a more positive shape in your daily interactions with people and challenge your thought process.

Here we go….

  1. Jesus is the light of men: He illuminates and enlightens everything that concerns us; if you believe.
  2. Find your purpose: our purposes are rooted in God our maker; to know and understand WHY we are here, we must turn to the light that shines in the darkness of our hearts and mind.
  3. Step to greater things: we must aim higher and know exactly what it is that we want in life, this will create awareness and help us stay in tune with ourselves and be prepared to take opportunities as they present themselves or we create them. John’s two disciples left him for Jesus knowing that He has the potential to make them achieve incredible things.
  4. Be direct: this will help us avoid unnecessary chatter and focus on what is important and urgent. When Jesus saw the two young men following Him, “What do you what?” He asked! Afterwards, He just said two brief words—“follow me”.
  5. Be receptive to people: Jesus invited them into His abode when they inquired of His residence. “Come….and see, He said!”. He chose to show them……any lessons here for you?
  6. Learn to share: Upon finding the Messiah, the first thing Andrew did was to look for his brother and share his new-found treasure. Too often we hold back powerful tools in our disposal that make us successful, happy, content, joyful…. you name it.
  7. Human relations: Jesus’ approach to Nathaniel was different from the other two disciples who had met Him earlier. Apparently, Nathaniel was a tougher nut to crack given that he had doubted anything good could come out of Nazareth. Jesus knowing his heart, used a more effective means to win his heart. We too must meet people where they are to establish any meaningful relationship.


Bibobra Alabrah


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