Finding opportunity in three common excuses that hold you back

One day. Two words that separate you from where you are and where you want to be. One day. Two words loaded with more explanation than any other combination could convey as succinctly. Yet, we all know what they mean. One day is no day of the week. “One day” ignites no urgency to plan or take action that will “one day” get you there. So what’s really holding you back? If it’s one of these three common excuses, then I have some good news for you.

More often than not, fear is the one thing that holds you back from reaching your “one day” dreams. Like those two words, “fear” is another that covers a multitude of meanings. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of judgement. But have you ever considered that fear is an expectation? Fear is not necessarily based on fact.

Fear can be at the root of some of the most common excuses that hold us back. But we’ll get into that in a future blog post. For now, let’s look at some of the things we say that hold us back from achieving our goals or working towards our dreams.

“I don’t have time.”

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but I’ll say it again: we all have 24 hours in a day. If it’s important to you, you’ll make time. If it’s not important to you, you’ll find an excuse. Do you know what is truly important to you?

Getting crystal clear on your core values helps you make decisions and allocate your time. Knowing your values also helps you better understand yourself and what motivates and drives you. Often people think they know what’s important to them and what’s not. However, I’ve found that many who attend Finding an Inspired Life (a collaboration of Finding Eco and Inspired Mood) are surprised by what they learn about themselves when we get to the values section. They later say: “I never thought X was important to me, but it helps me do Y, which I know is important to me. Therefore X must be important to me.” Often, until that moment, they have had a negative feeling towards value X and are subconsciously resistant to it.

“I have too many responsibilities.”

Is there something you want to do, like create a business or travel, but feel rooted by responsibilities? If you did decide to dedicate time to building your new business or take leave and go on an adventure, would baby seals be dying in the Antarctic as a result? Of course not. What I mean is, nothing is ever as bad as it seems.

Got a job/husband/kids? Great! Take them with you! We live a world that’s better connected than ever before, so either take the laptop or take a well deserved break from work. Take a family adventure, or say “Hubby, you know what, I just really need to do this. Let me go, and next time it’s your turn.”

Your responsibilities are what they are. You decide what’s important to you and you make them your responsibility. Again, knowing your values helps you prioritise what’s important to you and this includes your responsibilities.

“I don’t have enough money.”

No one was born with money. No one dies with money. Not really. What we have are resources and our own resourcefulness. Get caught up in the lack mentality – e.g. “I don’t have enough money” – and your focus is distracted from what you truely want.

Conversely, if you set your intentions and are focused on what you truly desire, then you are more open to and aware of attracting opportunities that inch you closer to your “one day” dream. You might find money comes to you easier or other resources are available to you. Where there is a will there is a way.

At Finding an Inspired Life, Amanda and I go much deeper to get to the true cause of what’s holding you back, help you break through old patterns and teach you how to shift your mindset to one that sees and attracts opportunities that get you closer to your “one day” dreams. Interested? Find out more.