Avoid these 14 momentum and motivation killers
Jun 23rd, 2008 by spaceagesage
When we seek to change our lives for the better, excuses can rise up screaming from our guts telling us all sorts of doubt-inducing tales of why we can’t move forward. Defensive justifications that kill our momentum and motivation often come from how we define who and what we are.
I wrote about Three Things That Can Hold Us Back in another post here, but I want to go deeper into the section subtitled “My story, self-image, and inner messages tell me lies.”
If we see ourselves and our world through excuses, it is harder to move forward in life. We chain ourselves to a heavy weight when we define ourselves by any of these perceived limitations or deficits:
1. Failures
I can’t move ahead in business because my divorce shows that my decision-making skills are faulty.
2. Family or community culture
I have to work two jobs to get my fiancé a ring before I can pop the question.
3. Duty-bound to follow unhealthy “rules”
I don’t know anything else but how I was taught.
4. Lack of skills or education
I can’t change my line of work because I don’t have the necessary knowledge.
5. What others “have done” to us
I would have graduated from college if it wasn’t for that one professor.
6. What others “haven’t done” for us
I would have graduated from college, but my parents stopped helping me.
7. Illnesses or handicaps
I can’t be an athlete if I have one leg.
8. Physical limitations
I’m too short (tall, fat, skinny, old, young) to make an effective leader.
9. Uncool or socially backward ways
I’m too much of a wall flower to tackle that project.
10. “Fate” or “lot in life”
I just wasn’t given enough smarts to go to college.
11. Inexperience
I’ve never done much public speaking, so I can’t run for office.
12. Too much experience
I’ve been a bank president, so I can’t just volunteer anywhere.
13. Fears, anxieties, neediness, worries, or doubts
I’ve never had to deal with finances before so I know I will fail.
14. Unresolved emotional baggage, buried wounds, or bad habits
I’m just too screwed up to do anything.
In the next post, I dial all this down to a personal level and give perspective on how to handle them.
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.
~ Don Wilder ~
Photo credit: speech path girl