I believe something that will offend many people. If you're reading this, you are likely the exception. Either way, this idea will challenge your perspective. Everyday, I catch myself wanting to allow this trap to consume me. But you and I must resist.

Most people look for good excuses. Good excuses for delaying important decisions. Good excuses for why their business is failing. Good excuses for why now isn't the best time. Good excuses in their marriage, relationships, friendships, and family. Good excuses surround many good people.

Then there are great excuses. Great excuses are reasonable to nearly everyone — The death of a loved one, sickness, poverty, oppression, malice, betrayal, disasters, and pandemics. We would all agree, if any one of those things were to happen to you or me, that we would have a great excuse for playing it safe, pressing pause, stopping, not starting, or even quitting that thing.

But people dedicated to living out their greatness hate excuses of any and every kind.

Excuses with the word good or great in front of them are oxymoron's to those pursuing their God-given genius. World-class people do not see excuses, they only see opportunities to grow. Every unexpected situation in life has an invitation deep within it to become either an excuse, or an opportunity. The only thing that changes whether it is an excuse or opportunity is in the the mind that conceives it. It is perspective. "Jake, are you saying there is no such thing as an excuse?" Absolutely not. There are excuses everywhere, held by everyone, all the time. That includes me. We all have excuses we believe are justified. But excuses achieve nothing other than sympathy or pity. They don't pay the bills, keep the lights on, or feed mouths. You cannot take excuses to the bank or receive praise and admiration for excuses. You cannot have excuses and world-class at the same time. For that reason, excuses are in direct opposition to everything truly desirable in life. And if we are being completely honest, every single on of our excuses faced with a "do or die" situation, could almost certainly be overcome.

What if, rather than feel the need to find the excuse for your current situation, you could uncover an opportunity? What if the situations where others complain and justify their behaviour due to external, uncontrollable circumstances, you could find a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? What if this moment was the greatest opportunity of your lifetime? What if...

Just remember, in almost every circumstance you can conceive in your mind where someone has had the opportunity to form an excuse, someone else has had a relentless belief they could find or create a solution — and found one! The people we admire most in life are not those who create reasonable excuses. The people we admire are always those who overcome adversity. The underdogs. The misfits. The rebels. The oppressed. The misunderstood. The heroes. The ones who found a way when everyone else said, "impossible."

Trade your best excuses for belief that this is your moment.

I promise, this will change your life.

To a world-class life,

Jake Nicolle