The Big Excuse That Keeps You Procrastinating

Excuses. Excuses are the seed of procrastination. They are invisible 99% of the time but pop up right when you are about to start working on your goals and push you into procrastinating. We remember that we have to reorganize our shelves or wash the car only when we have to start working on typing up a report. We might even start scheduling our work for the next week, using that as an excuse to procrastinate instead of focusing on the tasks we must complete today. At other times, we convince ourselves that we are not prepared or skilled to take on new responsibilities, leading to further procrastination and preventing us from learning and growing.

Overcoming procrastination is impossible without overcoming our excuses. Excuses drag us down so much and so often that it is worthwhile examining them in more depth. Excuses also cause us confusion as to what the right decision is. If we cannot make and stick to a decision, we are procrastinating due to indecision. Usually, we seem to find one excuse that we come back to over and over. I call this our Big Excuse. It is this Big Excuse that, if we let it, will continually cause us to procrastinate and avoid working on the things that matter to us. To beat procrastination, we need to first identify our Big Excuse.

For the record, here is my big excuse:

“I cannot show my weaknesses.”

Buying into this excuse keeps me from being transparent, inhibits learning from situations, and impedes opening up and connecting with other people and expressing empathy to them. It becomes an excuse to procrastinate and avoid situations where I have to be vulnerable and admit to someone else that I do not have all the answers. In moments when I am faced with new opportunities of this kind, this Big Excuse stops me from committing to it and pushes me into procrastination instead.

Well then, how do we break free of the Big Excuse and the chains of procrastination? The first step is clearly identifying our Big Excuse for what it is. Reflect on the moments where procrastination affected you the most, and think about what made you act that way. Why did you procrastinate? Was it because you were afraid of taking on the challenge? Were you distracted by your environment? Did you feel overwhelmed? Whatever the excuse may be, you have now identified the root cause of your procrastination.

Once we identify our Big Excuse, it is our job to understand it for what it is—a story that we keep selling ourselves and trying to sell to others—and acknowledge it as such. If we never do this, we will keep convincing ourselves that it is a valid reason to procrastinate and not realize it for what it is: an excuse.

We achieve true freedom when we identify our excuses and refuse to be held down by them. We need to write this Big Excuse down so that we are constantly reminded not to be controlled by them, especially in times when procrastination is tempting. We need to make a commitment to ourselves to not let this excuse lead to procrastination and get in the way of achieving our goals.

Another way we can ensure that we do not fall prey to procrastination caused by our Big Excuse is what I call the Accountability Circle™, a support system of people in your life who help you become the best version of yourself. They ensure that you stay on track with your goals and do not fall to our Big Excuse. But to be able to do this, we first need to spend the time to truly understand our Big Excuse.

Beating procrastination is not easy, but it can be done with time, effort, and reflection. Take the time to understand your Big Excuse, and start working towards limiting its influence on your life. When you do not fall for your Big Excuse, you become a more dependable and accountable person. The people around you know that you will come up with solutions and support rather than excuses. Accountable people move past their Big Excuse and they help others around them do the same.