We all have our own excuses. They feel unique to each one of us, but in reality, we all deal with the same core excuses.
What I’ve seen over and over again is that excuses are merely imaginary walls standing between you and your dreams.
They can keep you from moving forward, but only if you let them. Those that are successful realize this and keep moving forward even when they feel like they can’t.
If making stuff happen was easy, everybody would be following their passion. You will bump into obstacles, and you will feel like you can’t do this or that, but you can.
Here are the seven core excuses:
1. I Don’t Have Time
We all have the same amount of time to work with. Some have jobs, some have families, while others seemingly have all the free time in the world.
But that doesn’t mean that you should let time stop you from doing what you want. So what if you only have 60 minutes per day to work on your passion?
If you don’t start now, when will you?
It’s quite common to believe that if you had more time, you’d make more things happen, but in reality, it doesn’t work quite like that, at least not from my experience.
You see, there’s something called Parkinson’s Law that states: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
What this basically means is that even if you have more time, you’ll tend to fill that time with the same amount of work.
I saw this happen in my own life when I started working online full-time. I had more time on my hands, but I didn’t work more.
If you have a job and a family, you will obviously have less time on your hands than a 20-something who hasn’t decided what to do with his life yet.
But this shouldn’t stop you from doing anything. You can always find time to do what you want. It all depends on how badly you want something.
2. What About My Family / Friends / Kids
When you embark on your path to greatness, there will always be people that will stand in opposition.
You are in effect, making them uncomfortable by stepping out of the confines of society, which in turn destroys some of their belief systems.
Sometimes you have to stand alone in what you do and what you believe in. At those times, it’s your duty to lead by example and show that this can be done.
You won’t always succeed, and the journey will not always be easy, but if you keep going and keep doing what you feel is right, you’ll get to where you need to be.
As you start moving towards your passion, some of your friends will naturally fall away. They just aren’t a good fit for you anymore, and that’s okay.
Even though I do not have a family (yet), I’m sure that most are reasonable and are more than willing to support what you’re doing. If not, you’ll just have to get creative 
.
3. I Don’t Know How
Since I make my living online, I talk about making a living online, so that’s what I’m going to focus on.
Making your passion a reality seems difficult, especially when you start bumping into all the technical obstacles for getting a website up, getting traffic, making money and so on.
The good news is that there are plenty of tutorials, guides and mentors out there that are more than happy to help you out with whatever problems you may have.
In the end, all excuses are just excuses. You can easily find the information you need. You may not know how to do everything right now, but you can learn.
I didn’t know how to make money online when I started in early 2009, but I am now making enough to live wherever I want and do whatever I want.
I learned how to get traffic, and I learned a few things about what makes a blog tick. I didn’t make everything perfect, but I did take action, and that helped me reach 1,012 subscribers in 101 days and build an online business.
4. I Don’t Have Money
The good thing about working online is that the upfront costs are minimal. The only thing you may need to pay for is webhosting and a domain name.
In some cases, you may want to hire someone to help you with the technical stuff, and perhaps a simple design. If you’re feeling motivated, you may even want to join a course to slice a few months off your learning curve.
All in all, if you get everything, it’ll probably cost you under $500. But again, it’s not essential that you get a design or join a course.
The important part is getting started and making things happen, even if you have no idea what the heck you’re doing.
When I started this blog, I immediately joined Authority Blogger, because I already knew that the fastest way to building a successful blog was to follow in the footsteps of someone that was already doing what I wanted to be doing.
5. I Don’t Know People
I didn’t know anyone when I got started, but I’ve slowly gotten to know some really cool people.
The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter who you know. If you’re following your passion and making things happen, people will automatically be more willing to chat with you.
We’re all human beings, and we all crave authentic connections. Some successful people may be busy, but you don’t have to start with the A-listers.
Just start with the people you feel like you would want to talk to if you didn’t have a business to look after. Building relationships just because doesn’t really work out.
Be authentic and have fun. That’s how you would want people to approach you, right?
6. I’m Afraid
Being afraid is good. It means you’re heading in the right direction. Imagine your life without fear.
Boring, eh?
Okay, okay, so at first it seems awesome, but if you keep playing the movie in your head for awhile longer, it’s going to get boring!
I’m always afraid when I’m jumping into something new and unfamiliar. Throughout the years, I’ve learned to feel better about fear, but by no means have I become fearless.
I’ve learned to have a better reaction to it than I did 5 years ago.
It’s going to be there when you start out, and it’s going to be there when you’re successful. It’s a part of life, and the key to overcoming fear is to accept it and keep moving on.
Easier said than done, I know
7. It Won’t Work
To be honest, it probably won’t, at first, but that’s why you’ll be persistent and patient, right?
When I started my journey, I failed horribly. I was telling people about a book I was writing and I was going to be a rockstar, but nothing happened.
I wasted $8,000 on coaching and even then I failed. Even with all these huge mistakes, I kept going, because I knew this was what I wanted to do.
As I said, it probably won’t work at first, but it might. If you fall off the horse, just get up again. It’s the only way, and it isn’t as painful as you think it is.
We have a tendency to worry a bit too much. I do it all the time, but if there’s something I’ve realized, it’s that the fear of fear is more horrifying than the actual fear.
8. I’m Not Good Enough
We all have limiting beliefs and sometimes our confidence just isn’t where we want it to be. The funny thing is that even when you’ve reached a certain amount of success, you will still be worrying about something.
We’ve been taught that success changes things, but no real change happens outside of you, it all happens inside.
So it doesn’t matter how successful you are. The proof can be seen in famous people all around the world. They have the fame, the money and the success, but most of them are still searching for happiness.
Here’s the gist of it though: you will feel like you’re not good enough, but you are good enough. As long as you can remember that, you’ll be just fine.
Keep rocking!
Hi there. My name is Henri. I was born and raised in Sweden. I help people turn their passion into an online business that supports their lifestyle. To learn how I can help you set up an online business and enjoy more freedom, 
Unbelievably awesome as always my friend
“I don’t have time” is a killer. But holy crap, how much time do we waste on useless tasks and crappy entertainment every day? I’ve been growing in productivity recently but I still haven’t reached a fraction of my potential full output, I know
Andrew
Indeed, indeed!
I’ve also noticed that sometimes a conscious break is necessary to recharge my batteries. During this break I do nothing but unproductivize myself, although I do end up doing productive things anyway, like learning a language.
Yup!
Did you read Steve Pavlina’s article about working one week then resting the next? I think this ties into what you’re saying quite well. I’m trying out something similar to this pattern just now.
I guess doing things like learning a language are fine because they don’t have this sense of almost stress which things that involve your security or your big, massively important life mission can have.
Henri,
Interesting that you wrote about this since I did today as well
. When people make the excuse that they don’t have time, that drives me crazy because it is an excuse. I’m amazed that people want their life to change, but can’t set aside even 30 mins a day to do this. Yet, if you look at their lives there are tons of things that waste time.
One of the things we’re blessed with today is the ability to connect to lots of people who are living the lives that we want to live. Not only that, they are all their to help and want to see people succeed. It’s one of the greatest things ever. i’ve spent a small fortunate on life coaching, internet products, etc and of course I’ve failed quite a bit before I succeeded. Good stuff in this post.
We all have our fair share of failures before successes start coming. We need experiences and failures to calibrate our sense of reality. Once it’s accurate, we start seeing results!
Hi Henri,
Yes indeed, the excuses we can come up with are endless. The bottom line is if we are not fueled by a burning desire we will be easily derailed. People will offer all kinds of advice on how to make money, become famous etc. etc. Anybody who has ever been at the top does not know how they did it until they look back. They were marvelously obsessed with their passion and did whatever it took to get there.
That’s exactly what I’ve experienced. Get passionate, get obsessed and let yourself be taken where you need to be taken.
Henri, I always say exactly what you did. We all have the same amount of time. We have 24 hours per day. It comes down to how are you prioritizing that time?
When people say “I don’t have enough time” I propose to them that they “choose not to spend their time in that way.”
Cheers on a great post
I realize that some people are more busy than others, but there are always ways to free up time to do what’s really important.
Thanks for stopping by, Joshua!
This post is kind of useful except for the part about no money .You said when you first started your blog you joined Authority Blogger , how can that help someone if they don’t have any money or very little money ? Pity you did not mention a few free or inexpensive resources to help those who may not have $8ooo to waste on training. Lack of money is not an imaginary thing. It can be very real difficulty.You obviously have never been in a situation where you or your family has very little money or have unexpectedly lost your source of income
Heya Rad,
Sorry about that. I presumed that most people knew intuitively how to find good resources.
If you want free training you can almost always find something through Google and tutorials through sites like YouTube and Tubetorial.
Henri,
It’s amazing how many of those excuses I’ve used. Once told my brain to shut up, I figured out how to utilize the tools available to me despite being 100% poor (negative hundreds of dollars in the bank) and have been chugging along ever since. I truly understand the no-money excuse and I’m living proof that you can overcome that and pursue your dreams at literally no cost.
This article really helped me realize how far I’ve come since I started this journey. Thank you.
Awesome stuff, Lex!
It’s good to hear from someone who’s been in the trenches and is still alive
Great Post Henri!
I just think of how many times i have used these excuses in my life over the past few years! I think prioritizing your time is probably the most important thing. Once you are dedicated enough to set aside time for things you want to do and you are passionate about – i think the results will slowly start to flow!
Keep up the fantastic work and thank you to all the other posters as well as their words of wisdom are also very encouraging.
Richard
I’ll probably keep making excuses until the day I die. It’s not something I expect to get rid of, but being aware of how your mind works does help in making those leaps into the unknown.
Number Six can be solved by saying hello. They say the difference between, you and a stranger is your name. So just say hi, and now you have a friend.
Simple and effective
Henri:
What a wonderful post to bring everything into prospective. I think most of us, if not all of us, have suffered one or all of the situations listed above.
I think what we need to remember is we can work our way out of these problems, if we want something bad enough.
As far as what Blogging membership you joined or the amount of money you paid for coaching, I take your point as to say “Hey, the outcome was not cool, but I endured.” And Yeah for you…..many of us would have said “I’m finished.”
Psychology teaches us that we validate our reasons for failure, meaning we tell the story why we “didn’t “,until we feel confident that we were justified in our actions, or lack of action whatever the case maybe.
O.K. I’ll stop now, other than to say “thanks” for the words of encouragement.
Respect to all,
Peggy
Yup, the point I wanted to make with my failures and burning $8,000 was that you may fail horribly at first, but if you keep on keeping on, you may be surprised at the results.
Glad to see you sharing your thoughts, Peggy
#1 is always a pesky thought in my head. I have to remember time is the common denominator, like you said, we all have the same amount of time. What I CHOOSE to do with my time is in my control and that is what I need to foucs on not what I cannot control
Henri,
Nice post and great blog – I’ve enjoyed getting to know you and your site today. I’ve, at some point and to some degree still am, experiencing and battling some of these very same excuses. Thanks for sharing..
Mike
Great post – I definitely have made/do make each and every one of these excuses to myself on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes I don’t even realize it! You definitely called me out.
Good list, I think you captured the most common excuses. I also want to tell you that the picture for today’s post is awesome. It’s a cool picture and captures the essence of today’s post.
I have had those excuses before. What helped me move past them is affirmations – every morning I “brainwash” myself into getting over these excuses
Great post! You really cover the gamut of excuses here. They are all very real though we can’t let them prevent us from taking steps toward our goals. We can always meet people and network, learn new skills, develop our ideas further, and develop self-confidence. I really like the point about not having enough time. You are very right, no matte how much extra time I have, I will tend to fill it with some form of “work.” Thanks!
Good list, and it has a lot to do with managing self doubt. It’s easier to make excuses for why you can’t try than to try hard and potentially fail.
On that note, I really appreciate you mentioning spending $8,000 on coaching! It’s really refreshing for a blogger to admit that some ideas don’t work out, and that you won’t be an expert from the start.
Very nice, and very well written. I love it-
Just to make things interesting, I guess I should add what MY personal fear is..
“Achieving Success”
….Sad right? Hahaha-
Not only that, but my whole life has been a very interesting one. One step forward, and always two steps back. I’ve never had an actual job, I’m 21 and I still live with my mother! Sadly, I’ve been working on making internet marketing a career for 5 years. I have not even seen a single sale to this date. Also have a very big problem with discipline… >_>
I’ll be sure to keep read up on everything you have to say- I’ve got this gut feelin’ it’ll do me some good!!
~Cheers!
Not sad at all, Kevin. The fear of achieving success is a very common one.
Look at it this way: you’ve found a lot of ways not to make a living online, which means that you’re getting closer to making it happen.
Keep rocking!
Wow, all those fears are mine. But, I’m going for it anyway. I love your site. Everything I read of yours hits home. I have already learned so much for you. Thank you.
Carolyn
Hey Carolyn!
I’m thrilled and grateful to hear that my writing has helped you!