Excuses Begone! was created out of a belief that entrenched ways of thinking and acting can indeed be eradicated. Furthermore, the most effective means for eliminating habitual thoughts is to go to work on the very system that created, and continues to support, these thinking habits. This system is made up of a long list of explanations and defenses that can be summed up in one word: excuses. Hence, the title of this book is really a statement to yourself, as well as to that system of explanations you've created. It is my intention that all excuses be . . . gone!

Book extract part two (click here for part one)

Seven Core Ideas for Eliminating Excuses  (part two)

4. Commit to Overcoming Your Inertia

The excuses you frequently employ have taken up residence in your mind, which is dominated by your ego or false self; consequently, they won’t simply pack up and leave without putting up a fight. Those excuses have become familiar companions with your ego, and they’re always ready and willing to leap to your defense.

What I’ve found very useful in overcoming these ego-enriched justifications is to have a conversation with myself about who I intend to be and what I’m willing to do in order to bring this about. I call this my “commitment to overcoming inertia” conversation. I’m aware of my instinctive impulse to stay with the familiar, be inactive, and use the convenient excuses I delineated in Chapter 3. When it comes to fulfilling my commitment to complete a book at a certain time, for instance, I can always haul out, I’m too busy . . . It’s too big . . . It will take a long time . . . I really don’t have the energy . . . or what have you. Yet my inertia conversation helps me organize a few techniques to eliminate those excuses.

The first thing I do is draw up a contractual agreement with myself that I look at each day. After conversing with myself about overcoming inertia, I put a hand-drawn model of the book’s jacket on my desk, so I’m writing from the perspective of acting as if what I want to complete is already here. I then continually remind myself that my word to my highest self (God) is sacred. This alone can push me in the direction of my writing space. Once I’m seated, all that procrastination—supported by excuses—disappears.

Before beginning the paradigm I explain in the next several chapters, I encourage you to make a commitment to give up inertia. Have a private conversation with your highest self and be willing to hold on to its vision for you, even if the old excuses come trotting back hoping for a sign of weakness on your part. The written agreement helps you recollect that you’re in the process of redefining yourself. You are now practicing an Excuses Begone! philosophy for organizing and running your life.

5. Use the Power of Affirmations

You can make your entire living space an affirmation by having it reflect the energy you wish to utilize in fulfilling your personal destiny.

My own living space reflects what I wish to have in my life, and I’ve found this extraordinarily beneficial in underscoring my desire to cease using excuses of any kind. I affirm everything I am; all that I wish to become; and all that I treasure with written, photographic, artistic, and natural symbols of what I believe to be high energy sources.

I stay in alignment with this kind of energy by surrounding myself with what I wish to attract. For example, I want love in my life, so I place symbols of it around as affirmations that I’m aligned with what I want to receive. These include photographs that inspire thoughts of love, fresh flowers that are God’s gifts of love in the form of natural beauty, books about love, and written statements such as these that I’m looking at as I write: “Love . . . binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Saint Paul); “He whom love touches not walks in darkness” (Plato); and “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Not only do you become what you think about all day long, you become what you avow to the universe as well. So before you start the Excuses Begone! paradigm in the following chapters, I urge you to make your home and working space living testimonials to your highest desires. Affirm that you’re deserving of all the abundance that the universe has to offer. Affirm your love for yourself. Affirm that you’re a Divine creation, and thus willing and open to that Divine Source working on your behalf.

Never underestimate the power affirmations hold in helping you eradicate the excuses you use to defend the shortcomings of your life.


6. Live in a Helpful, Supportive Universe

One of the most important decisions you’ll ever make is choosing the kind of universe you exist in: is it helpful and supportive or hostile and unsupportive? Your answer to this question will make all the difference in terms of how you live your life and what kind of Divine assistance you attract.

Remember that you get what you think about, whether you want it or not. So if you’re sure that this is an unfriendly universe, you’ll look for examples to support this point of view. You’ll anticipate people attempting to cheat, judge, take advantage of, and otherwise harm you. You’ll blame the antagonistic, inhospitable cosmos for not cooperating with you in the fulfillment of your desires. You’ll point the finger at belligerent folks and bad luck for the kind of world we all live in. Since this worldview trickles down into every thought you have, you become a person persistently looking for occasions to be offended, and therefore in possession of a whole slew of excuses.

I implore you to see the universe as a warm and supportive one before you begin to apply the Excuses Begone! paradigm, because you’ll look for evidence to support this view. When you believe that the universe is friendly, you see friendly people. You look for circumstances to work in your favor. You expect good fortune flowing into your life. In other words, you aren’t looking for excuses!

My favorite affirmation when I feel stuck or out of sorts is: Whatever I need is already here, and it is all for my highest good. Jot this down and post it conspicuously throughout your home, on the dashboard of your car, at your office, on your microwave oven, and even in front of your toilet! Remind yourself: I live in a friendly universe that will support any thing or desire that is aligned with the universal Source of all. Such a stance will be a giant step toward living an Excuses Begone! life.

Affirming that what you want is already here and all you have to do is connect to it causes you to remember that what you attract is for your highest good, so you can then let go of the timing issue altogether. Just know that it is here and will arrive on God’s schedule—as does everything that makes the journey from nonbeing to being.

I’ve found that by shifting my belief about the nature of the universe, I attract whatever I desire into my life. I desire love. I desire peace. I desire health. I desire happiness. I desire prosperity. Why would I want to hold the view that our universe is un-
supportive, evil, and unfriendly? How could I expect the Divine realm to hear me if I’m asking it to be something other than what it is? Thus, I see my desires in perfect rapport with how the universe works.

When I pray, I do so in the spirit of Saint Francis. Rather than ask God to grant him peace, this inspiring man beseeched God to “make me an instrument of Thy peace.” In other words, “Let me be like the Source from which I originated, and then I will rest in the knowing that it must be here, on its way, and for my highest good.” As you can see, there’s no room for excuses when you apply this model to your everyday life.

As I’ve written and said many times, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” And this applies to the entire universe.


7. Don’t Complain—Don’t Explain!

Complaining and explaining are the two huge allies of excuse making. Generally speaking, when you resort to complaining you employ an excuse of one kind or another, placing the responsibility for what’s upsetting you on something or someone external to yourself. Complaining about the way somebody has performed (or failed to perform) is another way of making an excuse for why you’re dissatisfied or unhappy. “It’s their fault that my blood pressure is up—look at how miserably they’ve performed” or, “How can I enjoy myself at dinner when everyone here at this restaurant is behaving so incompetently?” are prime examples. Finding fault with circumstances, the weather, the economy, other people, or anything else outside yourself is a way to hang on to excuses.

In addition to putting an end to complaints, I recommend that you never attempt to explain. As I’ve pursued a no-excuses mentality, I’ve made it my policy to keep the things that I wish to accomplish a private matter. By doing so, I’m never forced into a stance of having to explain myself. I’m well aware that many of my personal life missions sound strange and outrageous to others. Consequently, I’ve learned to avoid sharing my intentions with anyone, outside of a select few whom I know and trust at a spiritual level. (Anything I might say to these individuals wouldn’t require me to explain myself in any way.)

The problem with having to explain yourself is that in doing so, you inevitably invoke the ego to do your bidding. You have a tendency to make yourself right, sensible, and understood; while at the same time dealing with the doubts and antagonisms of those who don’t share your views or your optimism. When you keep things to yourself, you stay connected to your spiritual side, or the place within you that has no need to be right or to make anyone else wrong.

Since all of creation comes from the world of nonbeing, if you want to give life to your dreams and desires—if you wish to manifest your own destiny—then you must rely on the great Source of all creation, Spirit. The moment you inject ego into the picture, you invite excuses; and the moment you invoke those familiar excuses, you stop the creative and the creation process from manifesting.

As Lao-tzu put it:

The Tao gives rise to all forms, yet it has no form of its own . . .
Stop striving after admiration.
Place your esteem on the Tao.
Live in accord with it,
share with others the teachings that lead to it,
and you will be immersed in the blessings that flow from it.

In more modern language, stop complaining and explaining—your excuses will soon cease.

These, then, are my seven favorite ideas for you to contemplate as you prepare to study the Excuses Begone! paradigm.

...Each chapter that follows ... presented as a question to ask yourself. Take some time before you answer, and read through the chapters with a mind that’s open to everything and attached to nothing. Consider the examples I present, examine both sides, and stay neutral in your assessment of how they apply to you today. In other words, simply let it all come in—particularly the parts that you immediately think don’t apply to you!

There are no exercises to do, lists to make, rules to follow, or complicated instructions to memorize. All you need to do as you read the following pages is keep in mind the words of Lao-tzu: “If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” This paradigm for changing habituated thinking is all about helping you to correct your mind. Enjoy, as everything else just falls into place.  ###

Excuses Begone! was created out of a belief that entrenched ways of thinking and acting can indeed be eradicated. Furthermore, the most effective means for eliminating habitual thoughts is to go to work on the very system that created, and continues to support, these thinking habits. This system is made up of a long list of explanations and defenses that can be summed up in one word: excuses. Hence, the title of this book is really a statement to yourself, as well as to that system of explanations you've created. It is my intention that all excuses be . . . gone!

Excuses Begone! was influenced by my work with the Tao Te Ching. Since the Tao Te Ching taught me what kind of thinking harmonized with my higher self, I asked Lao-tzu for advice on how to change long-established habits of thought. I realized that knowing what to think does not necessarily clarify how to go about changing a lifetime of habitual thinking. Thus, I've drawn on Lao-tzu's wisdom by contemplating his teachings and asking for his guidance on what it takes to bring about a change in the long-held habits of thought that manifest as excuses. Through a process of writing that felt as though I were being directed by a force larger than myself, the Excuses Begone! paradigm evolved.

I've taken many people through the seven questions that constitute this exciting new paradigm, and I've seen powerful changes take place. By examining the support system that individuals have erected since early childhood, and putting these timeworn thoughts through the seven steps in this paradigm, I find that excuses begin to fade away. They become replaced with thoughts that speak fervently, almost shouting, Yes, you can change any excuse pattern, no matter how long or pervasive the conditioning process has been!

If you're truly serious about changing any long-established habits of thought that have led you to use excuses as your rationale for staying the same, then I encourage you to follow the practices presented in Excuses Begone!