" NO EXCUSE.

Are you doing what you most want to do with your life right now?

If the answer this question is no, then why not?

There are two types of answers to this second question: reasons and excuses. Here I will define ‘reasons’ as explanations for why things are the way they are and define ‘excuses’ as justifications for failure.

As in many situations, there is one reason and a thousand excuses for why you are not doing what you most want to do with your life right now. The reason is that you have chosen not to do what you most want to do and have chosen to do something else instead. All other explanations are then justifications for your failure to choose to do what you want to do.

This raises a third question: why have you chosen to do something other than what you really want to do with your life? Once again there is a single reason and endless excuses. The reason is that you are afraid to fail at what you most want to do. Therefore you choose not to attempt to do it, guaranteeing that you will fail to accomplish that which is most important to you.

To see that the reason you have chosen not to do what you most want to do is fear of failure you just need to consider the opposite case. If you believed that you had an acceptable chance of succeeding at what you most wanted to do, you would definitely choose to do it. Since in reality you are choosing not to do it, you cannot believe you have an acceptable chance of success, which is equivalent to saying you are afraid you will fail.

Why are you afraid to fail? In answering this question, people once again tend to conflate reasons and excuses. The reason is that fear is a powerful instinct that serves a valuable purpose in some situations but can also badly misfire in situations like this one. The typical explanations people give for why they are afraid to fail are actually excuses for their failure to work through their fear.

So stop making excuses and start doing what you most want to do with your life right now."

-Douglas Abrams