Is it an obstacle or an excuse?

Last night in my group, we discussed the difference between obstacles and excuses as they pertain to your goal.  Try this exercise to figure it out.

Start with a blank skeet of paper. Write down all the things that are standing in your way from reaching your goals. If they sound silly, it’s okay, just write them down.

Now take 2 different color crayons, markers or pens.  Go through and circle everything you think is an obstacle in one color and everything you think is an excuse in the other.

Look back at your obstacle list.  Think really hard about each obstacle. Are they really obstacles? Obstacles are things that do actually stand in your way from reaching your goals.  They are things that you can figure out a way to overcome.  An excuse is something that really isn’t an issue, but something you try to tell yourself is true so you can avoid change.  Look back over your list.  Are any of your obstacles really excuses?

Now that you have a clear list of obstacles, figure out how to overcome them.  One of the things I LOVE about hosting groups is that we can work together to help each other figure out how to overcome obstacles.  If you need any help, feel free to contact me!  The key is getting creative.

Here are a few examples:

• Obstacle: I have a 3 year old and want to work out but he’s trouble.  Solution: We “dance” to music and he loves being a part of it.
• Obstacle: I just lack motivation. Solution: Hypnosis 🙂
• Obstacle: I don’t have time Solution: Examine what you really spend your day on. You might be surprised to find that you do have more time than you realize. Get creative. You can listen to hypnosis recordings while you sleep to help with your motivation, learning new things, etc.  Perhaps you have time where you are waiting for a child to finish a sport. Use that time to read, answer emails so you free up time at home, maybe even take a walk.  You can find time if you allow yourself to.
• Obstacle: My health…. Okay this one is a tricky one.  It could in fact be a very real obstacle, or it could be an excuse.  Don’t allow your health to become an excuse but do use caution if there is a reason your health is holding you back.  This is really important when it comes to exercise.  If you have health issues and want to exercise, I suggest talking to your doctor first.  Make sure you understand what you can and cannot do.  Next, acknowledge if there is an underlying fear excuse.  Being afraid that you will get hurt by exercising might be the real excuse here.  If your health is really the obstacle, you can almost always find a way to start out small.  If it’s exercising, perhaps doing a few chair exercises a couple of times a week is all you can do at first.  You will find that in most cases, when you start change, you will be able to increase your ability over time.

That’s it in a nut shell. Too many times we tell ourselves we can’t do something and so we don’t.  Always start small and take baby steps.  When you want to change something, thinking about all the change at once can get very overwhelming.  It seems like there is a whirlpool of things we need to deal with so we often decide to stay still.  Break up your goal into an action plan.  Take it one step at a time and don’t be afraid to take baby steps.  You WILL get there!