ON CAREER ADVANCEMENT || What Excuses Are You Giving Yourself?

How good do you want to be? Or do you want to be great? So great that they can't ignore you? I'm here to tell you that the only thing standing in the way of that is yourself. 

Does this sound like some of the excuses you have been giving yourself to avoid the hard work it takes to be great, amazing, even phenomenal in your career?

• I've never done this before
• This isn't in my first language
• This isn't my strength

It's amazing how we would never have used these excuses when we were kids, when we were curious about how everything worked, and constantly challenged ourselves to do new things, excited about the prospects of what could be.

Somewhere along the way of growing up our curiosity waned, our courage turned into fear and worry, excitement and new experiences are traded for comfort and familiarity, and we accept our current skill set as the best we could do; all of this causes life to stagnate. This is the point where good enough becomes acceptable, and good enough becomes the rest of your career.  

If you have ever read the books Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, or other books that emphasize the importance of your mindset, this will sound familiar, because what you accomplish in life is the culmination of your thoughts and what you believe you are able to achieve. 

Let's go back to the excuses we listed above. 

• I've never done this before - when you were a baby, you have never walked before, or talked before - so how impressive is it that you are now able to walk, even run, and speak fluently in one, or perhaps two or three languages?
   
• This isn't in my first language - many of the world's greatest writers are not native English speakers, but they all managed to learn and command the written language in their favour. What's different about you is that you are not putting in the hours to master your second language!
   
• This isn't my strength - strengths are discovered, nurtured, and built. None of us are born knowing how to do physics, math, gymnastics, etc. You never know until you have tried (hard enough).

Those who excel in what they do are set in their minds to be great, and willing to put in the hours and hard work to become successful. The other key ingredient is their passion for whatever it is they are pursuing, because when their minds are open to any opportunities, when the opportunities finally present themselves they can see it to seize it, and this is usually what people attribute as 'luck'. 

So stop thinking that only other people get 'lucky', if you stop giving yourself excuses, you can get 'lucky' too.