Excuses Are Effectively Ruining Your Life: Here’s How

Life is tough in the 21st century but nowhere near as difficult as it used to be 500 years ago, when people didn’t have organized healthcare, no financial systems and zero public office accountability. Oh, should I mention that most people were regularly starving? 

Nowadays, since we don’t need to incessantly worry about these things ― that are a given for most of us ― we have found new ways to fill in our hours, days, and weeks.

We enjoy online courses, spend quality time with friends and family (hopefully, less so now), and engage in many activities both online and offline. For better or worse, in my Serbian monolingual grandma’s own English words.

The way we earn money has drastically changed and so has our attitude towards life as a whole. Still, we manage to find ways to complain and seek excuses about everything surrounding us.

We are pretty curious beings, aren’t we?

Whenever there’s a downside to our current circumstances, either financial or other, we put way too much worry and thought toward it, instead of viewing the good things in our lives. We’re hooked on bad thoughts and feeling pity toward ourselves. 

It’s Never Too Late, Maybe

Although people are now creating vastly larger value in comparison to 100 years ago, we are figuring out an increasing number of ways to distract ourselves and do stuff that’s pleasing but not necessarily beneficial to our bodies and minds.

We’re inadvertently ruining our lives under the pretense that we are enjoying that long TV series, that attractive video game or those sugar-ridden cookies that are basically destroying our health. 

Let’s say you’re bored or fed up with your career but you think it’s too late for you to get a new job since you are in your thirties or forties. Well, this 82-year-old Japanese DJ probably wouldn’t agree with you.

It’s simply never too late, considering you’re still breathing, to change whatever it is in your life that you think needs an overhaul. Just don’t look for excuses.

A while ago I became a fully-fledged freelancer and this is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made (so far). Switching gears from my executive role seemed terrifying at first. And although I was pretty convinced that I wouldn’t make it, I made a freaking blast. 

Kick Some Metaphorical Ass

Your excuses and eternal complaining are making you lose out on a lot of stuff, such as, well… your life.

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be angry or dissatisfied about things that are hurting you or the people around you but I sure as hell think you should kick that never-ending excuse-seeking mindset out the door for good.

What do all the great and successful minds have in common? Do they complain and find excuses when their projects don’t work out? Yeah, right! What they do is put in the smart and hard work so they can be certain about their outcomes for the most part.

They don’t sit around, waiting for people to bring them success in a bowl. They’re always two or 28 steps ahead of the situation. 

Fine, let’s talk data.

Excuses in Data

According to one survey, most Americans spend 2.7 hours after work watching television, which is about half their free time.

Nearly a third of people didn’t touch a book last year. Additionally, less than 5% of adults exercise for 30 minutes or more a day. I’m afraid to speculate what these numbers would look like for my home country, Serbia. The odds are: far worse.

Suppose you were doing only the two latter activities that the vast majority around you neglects. In that case, imagine how that would set you apart. Drastically, to say the least.

You could easily become a raging bull who will get stuff done and be truly productive in all matters of work and life.

By the way, I never liked the work-life balance distinction. It’s as if work isn’t part of your life, which is patently bullocks.

So you think that you can’t exercise because you have to be indoors all the time?

Well, good thing somebody wrote this great article about exercising indoors. See what I did there? You probably thought of an excuse as a means to escape exercising regularly but I beat you to it.

I’ve got some powerful advice for you to be indestructible in the age of COVID-19. Simply, don’t justify your unhealthy, indisputably wrong choices and decisions. Stop making excuses.

• 
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