How to Assassinate Excuses

I was at a cafe when the idea for a cartoon popped into my head: these free flyers that were left on the counter for patrons kept me from buying into my excuse that I didn't have my pad with me. "Use what you got to create what you want."

An excuse is a lie you tell yourself in order to prevent you from doing what you'd really love to be doing.  Even though most of us will agree with this definition it's still hard not to believe excuses when they pop into our heads. And they tend to pop up the moment we get the inspiration to take a step toward our heart's desire.  Unfortunately, this is usually where we go from "This is going to be great!" to "What's the use?" in a fraction of a second.  Excuses keep us operating at a level far below what we are capable which in turn lowers our self esteem and this generates even more excuses. 

The only antidote to these excuses is to nip them off at the bud by taking the inspired action in spite of the excuse.  Taking even the smallest step forward seems to extinguish the excuse on the spot.  Doing whatever you can with what you have available activates a feeling of confidence and enthusiasm.  This positive action also affirms your heart's desire as a reality deep in your subconscious which in turn makes you magnetic to your greater good.

But how do you shut these excuses up if they pop back up or new ones crop up?  By reminding yourself of the truth.  The truth is; by choosing to buy into excuses we are choosing fear over our dreams.  That being said, here are five (5) ideas, slogans and/or quotes that I use to assassinate my excuses:

1). "Take one small step toward your heart's desire and the Universe brings it 1,000 steps closer to you."

2). "Anything worth doing is worth doing doing poorly." -attributed to Pablo Picasso

3). "You already have everything you need to do what you'd like to do right where you are today."

4). "Use what you got to create what you want."

5). "Don't wait for the perfect time to start.  Starting is the perfect time to start."

Not buying into excuses and using whatever is handy often leads to "happy accidents," creative discoveries we would have otherwise denied ourselves. This used to be a plain old Starbucks napkin.