5 methods to get out of your own way!

Stop making excuses

“Excuses are the bricks that build a house of failure”. If you truly want to accomplish something, you will. If you don’t, you will make an excuse. The biggest excuse… and trust me it’s an excuse… is, “I don’t have time”. If it’s important to you, you will make time. What you are really saying is, “I want to do something else more than better myself.” Your commute to work can be spent listening to an audio book or podcast. Your evening TV routine can be cut back by one show to focus on something you’ve always wanted to get better at or learn. Bottom line, there is time to do the things you need to do to improve if you really look at your daily routine.

Hold yourself accountable

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is look in the mirror and admit to yourself what you are really struggling with. It’s hard to admit to ourselves what our true weaknesses are. The best way to hold yourself accountable is to be honest with yourself. When you can do this you unlock one of the major keys to success. It unlocks a whole new opportunity you didn’t have before when you were making excuses for yourself. Now you hold the power to dedicate the time to the things you need to work on the most to achieve success!

Change your patterns

There an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. There should be another one that is, “If it is broke, you better fix it”. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. The key word there is “EXPECT”. Don’t ever expect success to jump in your lap without busting you tail for that success. If you want something you’ve never had, then you have to do something you’ve never done! Look at your patterns and determine what is working and what isn’t. Now attack the things that aren’t working and get OUTSIDE your comfort zone!

Set goals and right them down

This one is really hard for a lot of people, myself included. I know it may seem mundane to right down goals but trust me when I say, there have been a ton of studies that prove that you are much more likely to follow through on your goals by writing them down. If you don’t have a clear direction on where you want to go then you are wasting precious time and energy going in all directions. Take 10 minutes out of your day and write down what you really want in life. Then go back to “change your patterns” and ask yourself if your current patterns are going to help or hinder you from getting what you want. The choice is yours.

Exercise

Fitness Magazine wrote an article explaining why it’s so important to your career to exercise daily. “Employees who exercise regularly, a minimum of 150 minutes per week, are less likely to call in sick, have better attendance, and focus while at work,” says Michael Mantell, PhD, author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: P.S. It’s All Small Stuff. That may translate to a 15 percent overall boost in work productivity, according to research out of the UK’s Leeds Metropolitan University. And that may translate to a six-hour, 48-minute workday instead of an eight-hour workday. Voilà—now you have time for the gym!”

I can attest to this as I’m sure anyone can who works out regularly. I have more energy, I feel better about myself, and I’m much more focused at work. It reduces my anxiety and when I’m focused much less on the negative things in life, I focus way more on my work.

In conclusion:

We have a choice every day to do these things. Will you choose to do so? No more excuses, no more “I don’t have time”, no more “I’ll get to it tomorrow”, and no more “I’ll start that on Monday”. Stop making excuses for your failures or for being complacent. Get out of your comfort zone! No successes ever come from comfort zones!

Dale