“I just got off work. Why should I go to the gym when I can just go home and rest?
“I already had two cheat meals this weekend. Guess that means I’m done with my diet…”
“You know, I don’t really know what to do when I’m at the gym. Let me take a break from working out until I come up with the perfect game plan to achieve my goals…”
Excuses. You hear them from others on the daily.
Most people like to see excuses as the pests that stop you from reaching your goals. However, excuses can actually be a good thing.
How?
Excuses are like walls. You are on one side of that wall while your goals—that new body, that new income, that new car—wait for you on the other side. You don’t have to search for some ludicrous magic formula that promises you results but doesn’t deliver; you just need to break down that wall!
Trust me, once you put those excuses in their place, this amazing feeling of accomplishment will come over you like a tidal wave. That’s the best part of fitness: it makes you feel alive and proud of yourself.
Before you take down any excuse in your way, you need to know where excuses come from in the first place…
Where do excuses come from?
We are made up of conflicting desires. They duke it out inside us for full control of our actions and behaviors. Naturally, the key to fitness is to make sure your desire for good health overcomes your other desires.
An excuse is another one of your desires fighting for your attention. These excuses—sometimes disguised as “needs”—are usually less important than they appear to be. (Yes, your housecleaning CAN wait until you finish your next workout!)
Excuses don’t just take a back seat. They insist on their own way. How do you kick them out of your head?
How to put excuses out of business
Now you know the root of those excuses. So how do you weed them out?
All it takes is a reframe. Your health should be a priority to you, so it treat it like one. Think about how good you’ll look and how confident you’ll be when you simply choose to eat healthier throughout the week rather than munch on fast food.
When you prioritize anything in life, excuses tend to fade away. You’re left with a lazer-sharp focus on the stuff that really matters to you. That’s really when you’re at your best, doing the things you love and not the things that distract you.
Replace those excuses with positive self-talk
You want those excuses to stay as far way from you as possible, so you need to replace them with something else. Time to bring in the positive reinforcements!
Fill the mind with positive self-talk. This is how you tell yourself that those goals and commitments you made really are worth it.
There’s a little trick that makes this incredibly simple…in fact, this trick is literally just one word… 
“Can.”
Always remind yourself of what you can do. The more you feed yourself with positivity, the more you are capable of doing!
You can shatter that wall of excuses. You can be your best self today. All that’s left is for you to take action!
