Excuses can be a detriment to anything we want to achieve. Everyone can come up with some excuse that sounds like a legitimate reason why something isn’t accomplished, but very rarely does the excuse justify why something isn’t done on time. In other words, the excuse can usually be overcome or worked around if the person is willing to do so, but oftentimes, the person is willing to let the excuse hinder his/her ability to get things done in a timely manner.
Especially for entrepreneurs, excuses can be a powerful force toward not achieving the success they want. After all, entrepreneurs are usually their own bosses; if something doesn’t get accomplished, they only have to answer to themselves for why an important task or project isn’t done on time. If the entrepreneur isn’t truthful to himself/herself and doesn’t hold himself/herself accountable, then the only real “punishment” or consequence to not getting the task or project done on time is that the business’s reputation, credibility, and profitability is negatively impacted. The entrepreneur himself/herself will not get fired, since he/she works for himself/herself anyway- there is no one to really fire unlike those in a 9-5 job.
Yet, if you allow excuses to rule your business and your life, you will not achieve the dream of having your own successful business, so it is imperative that you learn to overcome excuses and not let them stand in the way of your dream of having a successful, thriving business. You will learn five steps on how to overcome excuses below.
1. You Must Hold Yourself Accountable
As was alluded to above, when an entrepreneur fails to complete an important task or project on time, he/she only has to answer to himself/herself- there is no actual boss to answer to. As a result, the entrepreneur is not going to get fired; there is no real consequence outside of the business being negatively impacted, as well as the entrepreneur’s own reputation for getting things done in a timely manner.
This is where you need to hold yourself accountable for any missed deadlines for important tasks/projects or for tasks/projects that are not done as well as expected. You need to treat your business as a real business and hold yourself accountable for any missed deadlines and failures. After all, your business’ and your own reputation is on the line, and just as it is in the 9-5 world, first impressions matter a great deal in the online business world as well. If you mess up, it will take a great deal of effort and time to overcome that mistake, so hold yourself accountable for any missed deadlines or poor-quality work and ensure that no deadlines or poor-quality work occurs.
2. All Excuses Can Be Overcome
Excuses usually occur due to distractions. Distractions can be anything from noise made by spouses, children, pets, neighbors, etc. to being logged into social media accounts, email accounts, smartphones, etc. Usually, your attention will be diverted because of one of these instances.
Many people will get distracted by their social media accounts, wanting to see who posted what content to their newsfeed or who is the latest person who wants to become their friend on social media. You get sucked into looking at your social media account, and before you know it, 30 minutes or even 60 minutes has gone by without you getting any work done.
Obviously, you’re not going to have a thriving business if you allow distractions to rule your life and take away your work time. Thus, you need to learn to overcome the distractions and the associated excuses that prevent you from completing needed work in a timely fashion.
When it comes to social media, stay off of your accounts when you are working; only spend time on them when you are not working or during breaks. When it comes to noise caused by others, use earbuds or cotton balls to drown out the noise and to keep your focus on your work. Talk to those who are causing the noise and see if you can find a way to reduce or eliminate the noise.
Even when it comes to not knowing how to do a specific task necessary for your business, this type of excuse can be overcome as well. Look to YouTube and search for the task you are looking to complete to see if someone shows how exactly it is to be done, then follow along and do it. If necessary, ask someone in an online forum to assist you in doing the task or post an ad to an outsourcing website and hire an outsourcer to have it done.
The point is that EVERY excuse can be overcome if you are really committed and dedicated to building and maintaining a thriving business; it just takes some effort and focus to achieve the solution.
3. Focus On Your End Goal
To aid you in building and maintaining your business, focus on the end goal. Why are you building your business? What do you hope to gain out of it? How long do you want it to last? What do you want your legacy to be?
Do you want to ensure your family has a happy, safe, secure financial future? Do you want to change the world for the better? Do you want your business to last beyond your own lifetime on Earth? How do you want your life to be remembered after you are gone.
Really focus on these questions and see what answers come to mind. Even consider writing down those questions and answers on a piece of paper, in a journal, or in a .txt or .doc/.docx file. Review this every so often; if you have it on a piece of paper, tape it to your computer screen or have it right next to it so that’s it’s always there for you to read and review in the event you get distracted, frustrated, or thrown off track by excuses or distractions.
Reviewing the reasons why you want to build your own business and what you want to get out of it will give you the drive and desire to work past distractions, not allow excuses to dictate your actions, and allow you to complete the work you need to complete at a high level and in a timely fashion.
4. Take Care Of Yourself
Taking care of yourself is vital to ensuring you do the best-quality work you can do in a timely fashion. If you deprive yourself of eating well and sleeping well, you will not be as focused as you need to be in order to complete your work at a high level in a timely fashion. Instead, you’ll be fighting to stay awake and stay focused on your work.
If you’re constantly hungry, you’ll be distracted by your stomach and not be able to complete your work at a high level in a timely fashion. In addition, you may get worn down and even become ill because you aren’t getting enough nutrients and vitamins in your diet. If you become sick, say, with the cold or flu, you’ll have more of an excuse to stop working, which is exactly what you don’t want to do if at all possible. And, if you eat regular meals, you’ll have a greater chance of staying healthy.
The same goes with getting enough sleep. If you start depriving yourself of sleep, your mind will begin to wander, and you won’t work as proficiently or efficiently, resulting in lower-quality work taking longer to complete. In addition, it’s likely you’ll doze off while working, which could even lead you to want to get up and take a nap, thinking you’ll feel better after you get a quick nap and be more willing and able to work. Then, before you know it, you’ll have slept for 2-4 hours instead of 30-60 minutes, losing more time you could have and should have been working, all because you deprived yourself of sleep.
The same goes with spending quality time with loved ones (family, friends, etc.). If you are always working and not spending time with them, your mind will start to think about them constantly. You could even start resenting your work because you’re always working and not spending time with them. Additionally, they may start resenting you because you always choose to work instead of spending time with them, which can cause more stress and strain for you and not allow you to focus as well as you need to to do your best work in a timely fashion.
Therefore, taking care of yourself is vital to avoid distractions and excuses that can hinder you from doing your best work in a timely fashion. Being sick, being tired, or being depressed and sad can be major excuses for not getting work done in a timely fashion, so be sure to take care of yourself to ensure these excuses do not get in your way of achieving a successful, thriving business.
5. Reward Your Successes
It is important that you reward yourself for the quality work that you do. If all you do is work and not take any joy or pride in your accomplishments, chances are high that you will start to tire of the work that you do and even resent it. Then, you will look for every excuse in the book to not do the work you are expected to do in order to have your own thriving business. In short, the work of creating and maintaining your own successful business will be worth more trouble than it’s worth if you don’t take time to enjoy the successes.
That includes the monetary rewards you get from successful projects, including product launches and more. When a project goes well, consider taking a little time off and celebrating with a nice dinner, a little mini-vacation (even if you just stay at home and not work for a day or two), or purchasing an item you wanted to have.
Additionally, spend some time with loved ones. Show them that you appreciate their sacrifice of not being with you while you are working and show that they matter to you and that you want to share your success with them. Consider taking the family on a vacation or taking the family out to a special dinner in celebration of your successful project.
Also take note of the recognition and reputation you gain from launching a successful project. It’s likely peers in your industry, as well as customers and target markets, will note your promptness and ability to deliver a quality product launch on time as you announced. This will make it more likely that others in your industry will want to work with you on joint ventures that can benefit all businesses involved, thereby increasing your business’ profit potential.
Taking time to enjoy your successes will encourage you to obtain more successes in your business and not allow excuses to stop you from obtaining them. You’ll want to have more successes that you can be proud of and enjoy with loved ones, giving you more power to control distractions and not allow excuses to stop you from achieving your dreams of having your own successful business.
By holding yourself accountable, keeping in mind all excuses can be overcome, focusing on your end goal of why you want to build and maintain your own business, taking care of yourself while building and maintaining it, and rewarding your successes as you achieve them will enable you to overcome distractions and the associated excuses that come with them. You have the capability of overcoming excuses with the proper motivation and mindset; the successful entrepreneurs are the ones that employ this motivation and mindset, while the entrepreneurs who fail don’t. You need to be disciplined and motivated in order to achieve your dream of building your own business. By following the five steps outlined in this report, you will be well on your way to achieving your dream of building and maintaining a successful business.
