Excuse Me, I've Got a Case of Excusitis

I've been reflecting on my life lately. Mulling over the dreams I've gathered over the years, once so sparkly and shiny and full of hope. Now shelved away in a lonely dusty corner, sad and forgotten.

How did that happen?

The universe isn't conspiring against me. I'm blessed with a satisfactory degree of intelligence and creativity. I wasn't shortchanged on the most expensive currency, time, for no one has more than 24 hours in a day. Belonging to the middle class of society, I'm well-fed, well-clothed, well-educated and well-sheltered. The foundation is there for me to happily build my dreams upon.

But I'm not. Why?

The truth is, dreams will only remain dreams unless you turn them into reality. The first step in the dream-realization process is to do something about it. Start with anything, just do it. Here's where my long-term buddy comes in.

Excusitis.

Coined by David Schwartz in his book "The Magic of Thinking Big", 'excusitis' refers to a mental disease a mediocre person has of making excuses every time that aren't made by a successful person. If you haven't read it already, I strongly recommend this book. It's in my list of top 10 self-help books that actually helps.

The thing about excusitis is that everybody has it in some form or other. What sets apart the successful people from the unsuccessful is the degree of severity they are afflicted with.

3 Common Excuses and People Who Succeeded Anyway

1. No Time and No Money
The mother of all excuses.
Here are a few champions who overthrew what could've been their life sob story. George Soros is famous as one of the world's most successful investor - but did you know he survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary? How about the lady who brought a wildly popular wizarding series to the world, JK Rowling? Her mother died, she got divorced and was dependent on state benefits with a young baby. She is now a multi-millionaire best-selling author. Do Won Chang, founder of Forever21, had to work 3 jobs to support his family after moving to US from Korea in 1981.

2. Too Young or Too Old
There is just no perfect age.
Lets start with Mark Zuckerberg. Everyone knows Facebook. The guy who started it was a young university student at that time. He's now among the richest in the world at around $20 billion. Are you a Marvel fan? If Stan Lee had used age as an excuse, there'd be Spider Man or Fantastic Four, because the legendary Marvel Universe were created after 40. Julia Child was actually a corporate lady in advertising and media. She only became a celebrity chef after publishing her first cookbook at age 50.

3. No Luck and Fear of Rejection
It's all in the mind. Your mind.
Steve Jobs was given up for adoption at birth and kicked out of his own company. At the time of his death in 2011, his net worth was estimated at $10.2 billion. Stephen King is a best-selling horror author (over 350 million books) whose work have been turned into films. He trashed his first piece because it was rejected over 30 times. Thanks to his wife's persuasion, he eventually churned his first hit out. Imagine if he had said, 'I suck. I give up. Just going to get rejected again anyway'.

My personal favorite is Jack Ma. He had so many excuses to choose from and be more than justified for them. He had no money (childhood of poverty in China), no education (failed his college entrance exam twice), no luck and rejected (multiple times from Harvard and even KFC). Perfect setup to that disgruntled janitor scowling at preppy high school students as they skip by, invisible to the world.

If They Can Do It, So Can I.

They can, I can, you can.

There will never be a perfect time, age or circumstance. Wait for the stars to align, and you'll see your gravestone as the only milestone. Take responsibility. Have courage. Expect there to be challenges. React appropriately. The next time you feel excusitis setting in, my hope for you is to shake it off and do what you gotta do.

No more excuses!

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