Everyone desires to grow, achieve success, and improve. They have dreams of better career, better financial stability, healthier relationships, personal fulfillment, etc. But ironically, with all the dreams and aspirations, a lot of people have remained in the same place for so long because they have allowed excuses to stand in-between them and the fulfillment of their goals. At the point of giving excuses, you might feel momentary and temporary comfort, but it does not provide any lasting success. If you truly want to grow, then you have to learn to let go of excuses that keep you from taking responsibilities for your life.
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There were two friends who wanted to become software engineers, so they both enrolled in an online programming class. After a few weeks, when the courses started to get tough, the first guy started with his excuses that the courses are too hard. He also said that he does not have enough time to go through the course. Yet he would spend hours on social media every evening scrolling through his timeline. When he comes back from his regular work in the evening, instead of putting in just a few minutes to learn, he would look for one excuse to keep him from studying the course. At a point, he even tried to convince himself that he is not smart enough to go into programming, and that programmers are naturally gifted. This made him to abandon his training and he did not even finish a single module.
On the other hand, the other guy was committed. He also faced the same difficulty, but instead of giving excuses, he took responsibilities. He would wake up 1 hour earlier than he used to, just to practise the course for about 30 minutes before going to work. Then in the evening when he returns from work, because he works in the same place with the other guy, he would also put in extra 30 minutes to make it 1 hour daily. Then on weekends, he would put in 2 hours. Little by little, he was covering the modules. In about 10 months, the difference became so clear on both of them. By 1 year, he was able to build a project for someone, and then landed his first job as a junior software engineer. This was possible because he let go of his excuses and took responsibility for his life, and gave it what it required.
One of the things you need to understand about excuse is that it keeps you stuck at a place. Every excuse you give will just achieve one thing; to give you the reason to remain where you are. For example; you may try to give excuses that you are too old, or that you do not have the financial ability for the project, or someone else has a better opportunity, etc. These may sound convincing to you, but it does not solve any problem for you. In order to grow, you need to find out the reason why you have been stuck at a place, and then find the solution to help you move. That is, instead of seeing the "why you cannot," it is better to focus on "what you can." When you take ownership of your decisions and take responsibilities for your life, you will begin to make positive changes towards your dream.
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You also need to understand that growth does not actually require perfection, it just requires action. A lot of people keep waiting for the perfect time to take a step, which may make them not to take any step at all. They keep giving excuses that they will start when the conditions improve, or when they have more support, or when they build more confidence, and they end up not starting at all. What you have to know is that perfect condition rarely comes. So do not wait for it. Growth does not come by constantly waiting for perfection but by taking actions nonetheless. Just to let you know; it is better to take a step and do not get it right at first, than to keep waiting and not take any step. By taking a step, you would have gathered some experiences and learnt some lessons that you can apply in the next step.
It is worthy to note that you are less likely to learn from a situation that you have given excuse for. So no matter what happens and how challenging it may be, do not be quick to give excuses. The people that have achieved success in their various fields of endeavours also faced challenges at some points. But instead of using the challenges as excuses to quit, they used them as opportunities to grow, learn, develop themselves, and acquire new skills. Always have in mind that difficulties can either become a barrier or a stepping-stone, depending on how you respond to them.
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