Turn your excuses around

It’s easy to come up with excuses for not taking action. That’s the bad news. The good news is, you can put those excuses to positive and valuable use. In fact, you can re-direct the energy of those excuses so they’re pulling you forward instead of holding you back.

How do you do that? It can be as simple as using the word “but.” It’s a word that very effectively negates anything preceding it. When you tack the word “but” on to the end of an excuse, your mind immediately begins looking for a way to disavow that excuse.

This happens in a negative way all the time. Suppose you ask someone to lunch. The reply you get is, “I’d really like to go, but…” You know, without a doubt, as soon as you hear the word “but” that there’s not going to be any lunch date.

Ok, that makes sense. So how do you use “but” in a positive way, in a way that can turn your excuses around? You do exactly the same thing. You append that powerful word to the end of the excuse, so it begs for resolution and powerfully compels your mind to search for a reason to move ahead.

For example, perhaps your excuse is, “I don’t have enough time.”

Now, feel what happens when you change it to, “I don’t have enough time, but…”

That “but” can’t just sit there by itself. Your mind won’t rest until it comes up with a good reason. So it delivers. “I don’t have enough time, but this is really important so I’ll find the time.” Wow, that was a switch! Can you feel how the energy shifted right before your eyes?

Here’s the thing. That word “but” picks you up wherever you are and turns you around. You can’t help it.

“I don’t know how to do this, but…”

“I can learn, or you can teach me, or I can find someone who does know.”

“This is unbelievably challenging, but…”

“We can figure it out.”

Are you ready to turn your excuses around? One little word can do it.