The Great White shark or 'life-long phobia' I overcame when we met in South Africa. |
Every
time we choose safety, we reinforce fear - Cheri Huber
In
Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich, Mr. Hill lists '57 alibis by Old Man What
If'.
These are common excuses most of use as to why we aren't pursuing that
life long dream we've permanently placed on the back burner to simmer away occasionally
burping out excuses - or alibis as Mr. Hill calls them.
Mr. Hill says that all
people who do not succeed have one thing in common: they know all the reasons
for failure, and have air-tight alibis to explain away their own lack of
achievement. I'll list his 57 common alibis below.
We're all
guilty of using alibis but as Mr. Hill points out if we can honestly admit that then maybe, just maybe it will provoke us to stop making excuses and pull that dream to the front burner where we can taste it.
The
biggest reason holding us back, by the way, is fear of failure followed by fear
of what others may think of us.
“There is only
one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” -
David Deida
One way
to overcome that fear is to ask yourself what your 80-year-old self would say
to your current self. Hopefully she would smack our behind with her cane and
say 'what are you waiting for!' Or, imagine you had only 24 hours to live,
would you wish you had at least tried before it was too late?
So
without further adieu, here are Napoleon Hill's 57 alibis by Old Man What If -
Can you see any of your own here? I do - ouch! But hey, that's the first step
:-)
IF I didn’t
have a wife/husband and family . . .
IF I had enough
“pull” . . .
IF I had money
. . .
IF I had a good
education . . .
IF I could get
a job . . .
IF I had good
health . . .
IF I only had
time . . .
IF times were
better . . .
IF other people
understood me . . .
IF conditions
around me were only different . . .
IF I could live
my life over again . . .
IF I did not
fear what “THEY” would say . . .
IF I had been
given a chance . . .
IF I now had a chance . . .
IF other people
didn’t “have it in for me” . . .
IF nothing
happens to stop me . . .
IF I were only
younger . . .
IF I could only
do what I want . . .
IF I had been
born rich . . .
IF I could meet
“the right people” . . .
IF I had the
talent that some people have . . .
IF I dared
assert myself . . .
IF I only had
embraced past opportunities . . .
IF people
didn’t get on my nerves . . .
IF I didn’t
have to keep house and look after the children . . .
IF I could save
some money . . .
IF the boss
only appreciated me . . .
IF I only had
somebody to help me . . .
IF my family
understood me . . .
IF I lived in a
big city . . .
IF I could just
get started . . .
IF I were only
free . . .
IF I had the
personality of some people . . .
IF I were not
so fat . . .
IF my talents
were known . . .
IF I could just
get a “break” . . .
IF I could only
get out of debt . . .
IF I hadn’t
failed . . .
IF I only knew
how . . .
IF everybody
didn’t oppose me . . .
IF I didn’t
have so many worries . . .
IF I could
marry the right person . . .
IF people weren’t
so dumb . . .
IF my family
were not so extravagant . . . I
F I were sure
of myself . . .
IF luck were
not against me . . .
IF I had not
been born under the wrong star . . .
IF it were not
true that “what is to be will be” . . .
IF I did not
have to work so hard . . .
IF I hadn’t
lost my money . . .
IF I lived in a
different neighborhood . . .
IF I didn’t
have a “past” . . .
IF I only had a
business of my own . . .
IF other people
would only listen to me . . .
IF - and this
is the greatest of them all - I had the courage to see myself as I really am, I
would find out what is wrong with me, and correct it, then I might have a
chance to profit by my mistakes and learn something from the experience of others,
for I know that there is something WRONG with me, or I would now be where I
WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I had spent more time analyzing my weaknesses, and less time
building alibis to cover them.
Again, from Mr. Hill's book: Building
alibis with which to explain away failure is a national pastime. The habit is
as old as the human race, and is fatal to success! Why do people cling to their
pet alibis? The answer is obvious. They defend their alibis because THEY CRE-
ATE them! A man’s alibi is the child of his own imagination. It is human nature
to defend one’s own brain-child.
If you can see any of your own
alibis above, don't beat yourself up - we all see some of our own there. The
good news is that knowing our enemy helps us snuff him out. If you want to learn
more, I highly recommend reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - it's
powerful stuff.
Go forth and be fearless!
If i had not been born under the wrong star......Huh, then we all would be.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Just shows how ridiculous all excuses are :-)
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