I was at a conference at the weekend with some amazing, inspiring and successful people. Sitting in the bar afterwards we were talking about what we had heard and the great presenters we had seen. This prompted a discussion on what makes some people successful and others not. We discussed incredibly successful entrepreneurs such as Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. In his book “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell discusses in greater detail about what makes someone successful. He theorises that it is in part, where you came from, how well educated you were, the education you received, support from parents and possibly, the timing of starting school.

We queried the theories and ourselves? Was it our upbringing? Was it in our genes? Was it life experiences? We thrashed the topic around for a while, going backwards and forwards without coming to any great conclusion but that didn’t matter, we were communicating with one another and enjoying the process.

Here’s the thing though, if you want to achieve anything in life, you will always find a reason to do something and not do something else. Our reasoning depends on how much we want to do it.

Having lived with an alcoholic you will have heard many reasons or excuses why they couldn’t stop drinking, moderate their drinking or even get help.

It’s easy to criticise our ex-partner for not taking responsibility, however, are you doing the same thing. Are you making excuses for not getting on with your life? Are you saying ‘Yeah but, I can’t do it because…. Yeah but, I can’t get another job because he told me I wouldn’t be able to’ Yeah, I’d love to have more confidence but I just don’t’ Yeah, I’d love to go on holiday by myself but, I can’t do it because I’m too scared’

Stop making excuses for why you’re not where you want to be, why you’re not doing what you’re passionate about, why you don’t have the body you dream of, etc.

If you really want to do something you’ll find a way, if you don’t, you’ll find an excuse – Jim Rohn