How to Stop Making Excuses
Understand locus of control., Understand self-efficacy., Increase your sense of self-efficacy., Examine your own excuses.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Understand locus of control.
The first step to stopping making excuses is to examine how much you view life as being in your control.
Excuses are often made to shift blame away to circumstances beyond our control.
If you hear yourself saying that you cannot lose weight because your partner bakes too much, you are shifting the blame to someone external and you instead need to take personal responsibility.Internal locus of control is the extent to which you assume responsibility for your actions and believe you can control your life.
Having an internal locus of control better focuses you for future success.External locus of control protects your self-image by blaming fate or others and escaping ownership of your mistakes or failures. -
Step 2: Understand self-efficacy.
Your belief in your ability to complete a task greatly influences the actual accomplishment of that task, whether it is a work, fitness, or personal goal.
Self-efficacy is based on your past experiences with a task, seeing how others have experienced the same task, how people treat you related to performing that task, and your emotional cues related to the task.
If you have been successful at gaining muscle mass by lifting weights in the past, you see your friends doing the same, you hear people comment positively on your larger muscles, and you feel pride seeing yourself in the mirror, you will be more likely to again achieve an increase in muscle mass, instead of making excuses that you cannot do so., There are many things you can do to start building up your confidence in yourself.
Small changes allow you to quickly meet goals and start increasing your self-efficacy.Try making small changes to start.
Instead of revamping your entire diet, start by increasing your water intake for a week, then move on to decreasing sugary treats the week after that.
Reflect on past successes.
Remembering how you have previously accomplished goals will give you the support you need to accomplish the next one.
Visualize your success.
See yourself in that smaller dress size.
Choose a role model.
If you are trying to get fit, find a friend who has recently gone through that adjustment herself and look to her for inspiration and advice.
Allow some self-doubt.
Don’t expect to be perfect because setbacks and pauses will occur in your journey – setting yourself up to be perfect will only lead to disappointment.
Expect to have self-doubt and you can easier adjust and move forward. , Make a list of the excuses you make, consider why you make them, and decide which ones you want to work on stopping first.
Review the excuses you are making about your performance at work.
If you find you complain about deadlines, for example, maybe you need to re-examine your workflow process.Consider what excuses you make about getting healthy.One of the most common is that you don’t have enough time to exercise.
That’s why doctors now suggest to get your exercise in ten minute increments – that’s just a brisk walk on a coffee break!Think about the excuses you make about achieving your life goals.
Make a list of what you want to accomplish in life and list off why you feel you aren’t achieving these goals, then try to problem solve ways to overcome any personal obstacles you find.
Remember that nothing will change until you do. -
Step 3: Increase your sense of self-efficacy.
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Step 4: Examine your own excuses.
Detailed Guide
The first step to stopping making excuses is to examine how much you view life as being in your control.
Excuses are often made to shift blame away to circumstances beyond our control.
If you hear yourself saying that you cannot lose weight because your partner bakes too much, you are shifting the blame to someone external and you instead need to take personal responsibility.Internal locus of control is the extent to which you assume responsibility for your actions and believe you can control your life.
Having an internal locus of control better focuses you for future success.External locus of control protects your self-image by blaming fate or others and escaping ownership of your mistakes or failures.
Your belief in your ability to complete a task greatly influences the actual accomplishment of that task, whether it is a work, fitness, or personal goal.
Self-efficacy is based on your past experiences with a task, seeing how others have experienced the same task, how people treat you related to performing that task, and your emotional cues related to the task.
If you have been successful at gaining muscle mass by lifting weights in the past, you see your friends doing the same, you hear people comment positively on your larger muscles, and you feel pride seeing yourself in the mirror, you will be more likely to again achieve an increase in muscle mass, instead of making excuses that you cannot do so., There are many things you can do to start building up your confidence in yourself.
Small changes allow you to quickly meet goals and start increasing your self-efficacy.Try making small changes to start.
Instead of revamping your entire diet, start by increasing your water intake for a week, then move on to decreasing sugary treats the week after that.
Reflect on past successes.
Remembering how you have previously accomplished goals will give you the support you need to accomplish the next one.
Visualize your success.
See yourself in that smaller dress size.
Choose a role model.
If you are trying to get fit, find a friend who has recently gone through that adjustment herself and look to her for inspiration and advice.
Allow some self-doubt.
Don’t expect to be perfect because setbacks and pauses will occur in your journey – setting yourself up to be perfect will only lead to disappointment.
Expect to have self-doubt and you can easier adjust and move forward. , Make a list of the excuses you make, consider why you make them, and decide which ones you want to work on stopping first.
Review the excuses you are making about your performance at work.
If you find you complain about deadlines, for example, maybe you need to re-examine your workflow process.Consider what excuses you make about getting healthy.One of the most common is that you don’t have enough time to exercise.
That’s why doctors now suggest to get your exercise in ten minute increments – that’s just a brisk walk on a coffee break!Think about the excuses you make about achieving your life goals.
Make a list of what you want to accomplish in life and list off why you feel you aren’t achieving these goals, then try to problem solve ways to overcome any personal obstacles you find.
Remember that nothing will change until you do.
About the Author
Sandra Henderson
Enthusiastic about teaching practical skills techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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