Do you notice you make statements about your life that feels like you are just stating reality? It might sound like:
- I’m not a morning person
- It’s so hard to work in this toxic environment
- Being an introvert at work is hard
- I’m so busy
We go around saying these things like we’re just reporting the weather. You can’t make it rain or make it sunny. The weather is what it is and there’s nothing we can do to control it.
The problem with believing these thoughts is that they aren’t going to help you move forward. You are just reinforcing and believing your own excuses. And when you state them as facts, often others will agree with you and validate your excuse even more.
But do you really want to keep enabling your excuses?
These statements are not facts. They’re your beliefs about your life.
There’s no “morning person” club that you have to qualify for or a test that can prove you carry the gene of “morning.”
There’s no check list of a “toxic” environment. Many of us see “toxic” meaning different things. And we can’t statistically quantify the difficulty of the working environment.
We can’t scan someone and prove they have introverted genes and what authority figure decided it’s harder to be this way?
We don’t agree on the standard for what’s too much, just right, and too little amounts of things on our to-do list.
You can keep telling yourself these thoughts and believing your own excuses, or you can stop acting like an emotional toddler and start calling yourself on your own lies.
You have to start by knowing what weather statement lies you keep telling yourself. To figure this out, write down the answers to questions like:
- What do you believe about your life?
- What do you believe about your job?
- What lessons were you taught as a child?
Once you are clearer about the beliefs you have about yourself, try to be curious about them and look at how they are impacting your life. Write down answers for each belief to questions like:
- How is this thought helping me?
- How is this thought slowing me down?
- If I believed the opposite, what would be different in my life?
I’m not saying you have to go and change all your beliefs about yourself, but I would strongly encourage you to evaluate them every now and again and decide on purpose what you want to keep believing.
Stop giving weather reports about your life. Stop believing your own excuses. Start deciding what you want to believe. The only thing holding you back are your excuses.
You got this.
Want help figuring out what beliefs are keeping you stuck and how to let go of your excuses? Let’s jump on the phone and figure it out together. Sign up for free coaching HERE.
