Week 15 – Excuse ME…Not!

I don’t mean to brag but…

I am natures’s greatest miracle! It’s true, and so are you! So says Og Mandino in Scroll IV of “The Greatest Salesman”. 

I am unique…just like everybody else.

Reminding myself of this truth, everyday, 3 times a day is the antidote for excuse making. I’ve made excuses my whole life. Excuses like…

• “The reason I’m not famous like so and so is because I was born into a poorer household with little opportunity.”
• “I don’t have time because I’m a busy mom.”
• “I’m not wealthy because I don’t have the support I need.”
• “I’ll try my hardest but I’ll never be the best because I have so many other interests competing for my time.”
• “I can’t be as good as that person because he/she was lucky and had an easy life.”

Excuses, excuses! You get the picture. Even as I write these down they sound hollow and false…yet, I find myself entertaining these thoughts on more than one occasion a day.

Truth is, an excuse comes from a place of lack. it excuses us from being great – it’s the master of mediocracy. It is the outward comparison of ourselves to another’s gifts and talents and assuming that their talents were somehow easier to achieve than ours. We fall short every time. It makes us feel inferior and that our talent is not worth giving to others. A dangerous place to be in the world of an entrepreneur.

The opposite of making an excuse involves two things…

1. Acknowledging our uniqueness
2. Appreciating our circumstance

This is what Og Mandino writes about. Deciding to come from a place of strength and celebrate my own unique experience no matter how small or insignificant I may feel is the road to success. It leads me down a path of believing that I can and do have something to offer.

I got this aha moment in dance rehearsal last week. We were on the bar, as we are every week, doing pliés and tendus. I was thinking to myself, “this is so hard at age 52. I’m too old to be as good as these younger women.” I caught myself mid-sentence and realized I was selling out to lack! Yikes! and Yuck! A huge aha moment for me. Something inside me said,

“You love dance! Just do it and go full out!”

I did. My spine straightened. I felt my core tighten. I gave myself permission to go full effort – and you know what happened? It was FUN! I felt FREE! I danced better than I thought I could. At that moment I felt a responsibility to myself and to the dance company to treat this moment like a performance. Then these words came to mind…

That which we practice often we perform amazingly.

The lesson: Replace complaining with appreciating…no excuses! It works like magic. In every instance. When we excuse ourselves from our dreams we open the door to shame, unworthiness, and lower vibration feelings. When we appreciate who we are unconditionally and take responsibility for our course in life we open the door to greatness! We are natures greatest miracle. Excuse me not, I’ll take greatness!