There's a particular kind of lie we tell ourselves, not the obvious kind, but the soft, reasonable-sounding kind. The kind that comes with evidence.
Image credit: Pinterest
Excuses don't announce themselves as excuses. They show up dressed as logic. I can't read properly on my phone. I need the textbook. I'll focus better when I have the right conditions. And because they sound sensible, we let them in. We negotiate with them. We sleep.
I did exactly this recently. I had an exam, I needed to read, and my brain handed me a perfectly packaged reason why I couldn't start yet. No textbook. That was the problem. So I waited.
Then I got the textbook.
Nothing changed.
And that's the moment that exposes everything, when the condition you said was holding you back finally shows up, and you're still in the same place. Still distracted. Still not reading. Still finding the next thing to blame. If the textbook was truly the reason, getting it should have fixed it. But it didn't. Because it was never about the textbook.
This is how excuses work.
They feel tangible.
Lack of resources,
Lack of funds,
Lack of time,
Lack of the right environment.
They borrow the language of real problems so you can't easily argue with them. But most of the time, they're just a new song playing over the same avoidance.
Here's the part we don't like to sit with: if you can't manage what you have now, more won't save you. The discipline you're planning to develop once things get easier where is it coming from exactly? Easier conditions don't build discipline. Discipline is what you practice in the hard, inconvenient, low-resource moments. That's the only place it actually grows.
But I must also acknowledge that there are real obstacles.
Health. Safety. Circumstances genuinely outside your control. Those aren't excuses, those are reasons, and they deserve grace.
If you will be honest with yourself, the story between you and the work requires is the story you keep telling, the perfect lie hindering your growth
Excuses don't just delay action. They quietly shrink the version of you that's possible.
Show up anyway. With half a brain and bad lighting and the wrong conditions. Show up because waiting for perfect is just a longer, more elaborate excuse.
The work doesn't need your best day. It just needs today.
Note: You will not suddenly wake up and stop giving excuses for your inactions. The first stage is awareness, exactly what this article addresses. Now, take a moment to think about that thing you have been avoiding and check if you are simply avoiding responsibility or have genuine reason. After that find a way to work on it. Remember excuses keep you stucked
Till I write to you again…I remain Aliyah Abdulrafiu ❤️ Your partner in growth.
