“It’s raining, I might catch a cold it’s best if I leave my jogging for another day.”
“It’s a party, I can binge eat and drink! It’s not like I do it everyday.”
“He stole from me, so I can steal from him.”
“My wife is probably screwing some other guy too”
Excuses are what allow you to be able to live with yourself and still be considered a “good person” or whatever trait you might identify yourself with.
We can all find reasons and excuses to do the most unspeakable acts.
But… we are defined by our behaviors and what we repeatedly do. You steal once, you are a thief. You cheat on your wife, you are an adulterer.
Stealing an apple from the big corporate supermarket or stealing from the old mom and pop store down the corner, is the same thing.
Your action is what matters.
Whether it affects someone or not, or if it affects one person or a million, it’s still the same wrong action that only decreases your Inner Power and Will.
I learned to abolish excuses early on my training. Not just in accomplishing the exercises I had set out to do – or in any other form of goal setting -, but also in my personal life and behaviors. I live by a set of principles and guidelines which I won’t break regardless of the “excuse” or “good reason”.
It doesn’t matter if I see an open window of a car with a briefcase filled with gold at 4am when the street is empty. Maybe I’ll call the police or maybe I’ll leave it alone. But I won’t pick it up. There’s no doubt in my mind regarding it. Simple because I live by the principle of not stealing.
It doesn’t matter at what time I get home, if I had set out to do a daily practice, I will do that practice.
It doesn’t matter if the woman I’m flirting says she will file for a divorce soon, I won’t screw around with married women. File for the divorce first, then we can get some action.
It might seem that this is a hard and overly stressed life. But that’s only in appearance.
When you live by a set of principles and guidelines, life becomes easier. There are no conflicts in your mind. You just do the right thing and sleep well at night.
By constantly doing it, you create a habit of following through on your words and thoughts.
And it’s much easier than to be constantly generating excuses and living with the sense guilt that follows it. It’s the difference of losing energy or gaining energy.
And most importantly, by living through a set of principles, you gain extreme Will points which are used to increase your magnetism. There’s no room for the common enemies of the Will of procrastination, weakness, and so on.
By following through on what you say and think, your words and actions actually gains true power, since you know they are in complete coherence with your Will.
In short: Your actions matter. Excuses weaken you. Follow your principles and live happier and stronger.
