How to Stop Making Excuses and Start Living Instead

It doesn’t matter who you are, we are all human beings and we all make excuses. Whether it’s delaying a difficult conversation, avoiding a career change, or putting off pursuing your biggest dreams, excuses provide us with a temporary shield from the discomfort we face in our daily lives.

While excuses might keep us safe from short-anxiety, they do this at the cost of long-term fulfillment. By remaining in our comfort zone, we fail to grow, miss out on the good things life has to offer, and fall short of our full potential.

Excuses can take the form of blaming external factors, claiming we don’t have enough time, or feeling like our past experiences hold us back. But if you want to live your life fully, at some point you need to realize that excuses are only barriers to your success. 

In my life coaching practice, I see a lot of people get stuck in the same cycle. They make excuses, get stuck in their lives, and repeat the process over and over again. 

As a former excuse maker myself, I have learned first hand just what it takes to learn how to take full responsibility for my actions and learn how to stop making excuses for good. My goal is to share 10 practical tips that I have used throughout my life to finally stop making my own excuses!

Why Do We Make Excuses?

Fear of Failure, Judgement, and the Unknown

Fear is one of the biggest reasons people make excuses. Whether we want to admit it or not, the fear of failure, fear of other people’s judgment, and fear of the unknown can prevent us from taking risks and pushing beyond our current situation. 

Fear also has a subconscious process to it that operates beneath the surface and makes us feel like it’s safer to do nothing. This creates a sense of paralysis that makes us think the better thing to do is find excuses to avoid the uncomfortable situation altogether instead of taking action.

Think about the feeling you get when you try something new for the first time. It’s probably fear. Whether it’s starting a new job, pursuing personal development, or stepping into a leadership role, the fear of failure is there to keep us second guessing whether we are on the right track.

But remember that fear is part of the process, and stepping outside of your comfort zone is essential for your personal growth.

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is another major factor that causes us to make different types of excuses. When you’re unsure about what lies ahead or whether you’re capable of success, it’s much easier to stay in the safe space of doing nothing. 

Uncertainty can stem from past failures, lack of clear goals, or even negative emotions from previous experiences. But as much as we want certainty in life, it’s impossible to have it all the time. A lot of things we fear may never come to pass, but allowing uncertainty to dictate our actions only holds us back from future success.

A few years ago, when I made the decision to leave teaching, it was uncertainty about the future that kept me from making a career change. I was so afraid of the unknown that I couldn’t possibly see myself making such a big step.

But the good news is once I finally managed to make a career change, it didn’t take long before I realized that there were so many more exciting opportunities waiting for me. 

As a career coach, I see many people make excuses when they can’t predict the outcome. Whether it’s fear of others’ reactions or the unpredictability of change, it is only natural for uncertainty to lead to hesitation. But making excuses in these moments can only lead to missed opportunities. 

Instead of avoiding uncertainty, try to think about it as part of the journey toward your next amazing adventure.

A Lack of Meaning and Purpose

When we lack a clear sense of meaning and purpose in our lives, it is natural for excuses to fill the void. Without a compelling reason to drive us forward, it is much easier to justify doing nothing instead of pursuing meaningful goals.

A lot of people fall into this trap when they’re unsure of what they truly want from life. They may be pursuing goals that don’t align with their core values, or they might not have any specific goals at all.

Without a strong “why” behind your actions, it’s easy to convince yourself that your efforts don’t matter.

The next step to overcoming this cycle is to dig deep and get in touch with your life’s purpose. When you know that your efforts serve a higher purpose, it’s easier to push past discomfort and keep moving forward, even when the journey becomes difficult. 

Meaning and purpose are what give us the energy to persevere. They help us confront challenges rather than avoiding them with excuses. 

If you need some inspiration to uncover your life’s purpose, check out our collection of the best books about purpose!

10 Steps for How to Stop Making Excuses

While it’s natural to make excuses when faced with challenges or uncertainty, it’s possible to break free from this habit with conscious effort and the following tips!

By following these 10 practical steps, you can move toward a life of personal growth and achievement without letting excuses get in the way.

1. Take Full Responsibility

The first step to breaking the excuse habit is to accept full responsibility for your own behavior. Instead of blaming external factors like time, circumstances, or other people, focus on what you can control. 

Taking ownership of your actions isn’t easy, and it often requires a lot of time and reflection. But it is one of the most important proactive steps for how to stop making excuses because it puts you back in charge of your life. 

One of the most common reasons that people make excuses is to avoid responsibility. But when you shift the focus to your own personal responsibility, you will notice that the excuses that you make begin to lose their power.

Accepting full responsibility will definitely be uncomfortable at first, but it’s the most important thing you can do to break free from excuse-making. Take this first step to give yourself the power to create positive changes in your life and make progress toward your goals. You are the only person who can do this!

2. Change Your Perspective

Changing your perspective means seeing reality in a different way than you are used to seeing it. It is easy to let your first impression of what happens in your life determine your perspective. 

With practice, you can start seeing the challenges you face as opportunities for growth. Rather than viewing setbacks as reasons to stop, try to look for the learning opportunity in every situation. 

Excuses often arise because we interpret difficult situations as impossible to overcome. But with the right perspective, obstacles become stepping stones to personal development.

A growth mindset is essential for this shift. Instead of believing that your abilities are fixed, try considering that every challenge helps build new neural pathways in your brain. This conscious effort to reframe problems will leave less room for excuses. When you see setbacks as part of the process, you’ll stop giving up so easily!

3. Challenge Your Limiting Beliefs

We all have limiting beliefs that form the foundation of different types of excuses that we make. There many examples of limiting beliefs that show up in our lives. They show up as the stories you tell yourself about how you’re not capable, that you’ll never succeed, or that certain goals are out of reach. 

Challenging your limiting beliefs is an important next step if you want to stop making excuses and take control of your actions. If you leave your limiting beliefs unchecked, they can start to become a self-fulfilling prophecy that reinforces your habit of making excuses.

The next time you feel like something is “too hard” or “impossible,” ask yourself, “Is this really true?” Consider replacing the negative thoughts you have with more true and empowering positive affirmations.

You’ll often find that the biggest reasons holding you back are mental barriers you’ve created yourself. When you start challenging these beliefs, you’ll realize you have more potential than you ever imagined!

4. Set Specific, Achievable Goals

Setting goals is one of the best ways to overcome excuses. When setting goals it’s important to be clear and realistic about what you want to achieve. 

Try breaking big dreams like “I want to be successful” into specific and achievable goals. The more concrete your goals are, the less room there is for excuses in the first place.

For example, instead of saying, “I’ll exercise more next time,” commit to a better choice like exercising three times a week. Having realistic goals allows you to focus your energy and makes it easier to track your progress. 

Achievable goals are important because they create momentum and help you stay motivated. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment with each small goal you reach which will make it harder to fall back into the bad habit of making excuses.

5. Break Big Tasks into Small Goals

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by big steps and big dreams, especially when it feels like there’s a long road ahead. This overwhelming feeling is one of the main reasons we make excuses. 

To combat this, break down your large goals into small goals and more manageable tasks. Small goals give you a clear path forward, making the process less intimidating.

6. Find the Learning Opportunity

We all know that our lives are full of challenges and struggles. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that every challenge presents a chance for growth. Many people miss out on this opportunity because they focus on the failure instead. 

If you want to stop making excuses, you need to shift your focus to the learning opportunities hidden in every failure. Rather than viewing a mistake as a reason to give up, ask yourself what you can learn from it. Your future successes will come from the hard work you put into learning and improving from today’s mistakes.

7. Create New Habits

Habits play a huge role in excuse-making. If you’ve built up a bad habit of avoiding challenges or making excuses, it will take a lot of effort to change. 

However, creating new habits is possible with consistent, conscious effort. The best way to do this is by replacing old habits with positive ones that align with your goals.

Check out our list of 100 good habits if you need some inspiration to take control of your habits.

8. Focus on Your Own Progress

It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others, but this comparison can lead to discouragement and more excuses. Everyone’s own experience is different, and comparing your progress to someone else’s can make you feel like you’re falling behind. 

Instead, focus on your own progress and celebrate your own achievements. A habit tracker is a powerful tool that I have used to help me make my progress visible so that I can stay intentional about working toward my goals.

9. Take Ownership of Your Mistakes

One of the most common excuses people make is providing a long-winded explanation to justify their mistakes. But since making mistakes is part of human nature, it is important to recognize that we all make mistakes. In fact, taking ownership of your mistakes is an essential part of growth. 

Instead of shifting blame or making excuses, acknowledge where you went wrong and use it as a chance to learn and improve. Owning your mistakes improves your sense of self, increases your resilience, and enhances your mental health.

10. Find Support

One of the best ways to stop making excuses is to find support from others. Surround yourself with friends, mentors, and coworkers in your social life who inspire you to grow. 

When I was putting in the hard work to stop making excuses, my wife was a constant source of support that helped me stay focused and motivated. She not only encouraged me to take full responsibility for my actions but also gave me positive feedback when I made progress, no matter how small. 

Having someone in your corner who believes in your potential makes it easier to push through the difficult moments and stay committed to your goals. Support like this can be the difference between giving up and achieving future success.

No More Excuses!

The best way to stop making excuses is to start today. Taking control of your actions, setting specific goals, and making a conscious effort to improve is the only path to breaking free from the excuse habit so that you can start to live your life intentionally.

A lot of people get stuck making excuses because they believe they’re protecting themselves from failure. But the truth is that excuses only limit your potential and prevent you from becoming the best version of yourself. 

With these 10 practical steps, you can stop making excuses and start making progress toward the life you want to live.

No more excuses! Take charge of your life and start to make positive changes today!

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family on social media! If you know someone who wants to learn how to stop making excuses, this post could be just what they need!

---