Dreams are beautiful, they are filled with hope and imagination, the problem is you no doubtfully hold yourself back from following your dreams all the time. Everyone does it. It’s either out of fear or lack of motivation, but sure enough many dreams fade before they even begin.

It’s a shame too because dreams are the most powerful force on the planet. They are also created with most amazing ingredients in the world. It all starts with imagination, you first imagine a better life, a new reality for yourself. Then you wish for it with your heart, you want this reality to come true… finally, you sprinkle it with passion and love, and it turns into a dream. Sooooooo Cheesy, I know! I’m just such a HUGE believer in dreams.

Dreams have the power to transport us into the reality we crave. They hold the key to changing our lives and the world. You can dream of traveling, building a business, having a family, making an impact in someones life, winning an all you can eat hot dog contest, and you can actually take action and do it! Or it can stay hidden in your mind, neatly tucked away in a box marked: Someday.

So here’s the deal Dreamer, if you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way, if not, you’ll find an excuse. It’s a simple as that, dreams really don’t work unless you do. If you want to change your life and impact the world, then you have to become aware of the ways you hold yourself back from following your dreams. Here are the top 5 excuses we use to hold ourselves back:

1. You Need Money to Make it Happen

Money is the #1 dream killer. We believe that we need money, investors or professional equipment to make our dream a reality. It’s a convenient excuse, the lack of money is always a fan favorite to stay in comfort zones. You can chalk up failure to not having enough investment to make things happen. This is simply not true.

There’s tons of success stories of people who started small before they invested big. YouTube stars are GREAT examples of this. Most of them started filming with their phones, out of their bedrooms (some of them not even tidy!), used cheap make-up for those tutorials, had zero props etc. They literally used what they had at their disposal at the time: their creativity and current surroundings. It’s later that they invested in things like lighting equipment, people to edit their videos, expensive make-up etc.

Now imagine the person who dreamed of being a YouTube star but gave up because they didn’t have money to get lighting equipment? The world is much a lesser for it.

Excuse Buster!: You have to do what you can with what you have. Done is better than perfect.

2. You Don’t Have any Connections or Resources

The whole ‘you need to know someone in the business to make it’ is such a lie. Everyone can do it, if you want a connection, seek it out! You just have to push past the fear of putting yourself out there. Attend a conference, join Facebook groups, email someone you admire, publish articles that attract people to you, just do something. 

Either way, there are loads of people who have made it without knowing a single soul in their industries and still broke through. There was once this woman with a dream. She had a story to tell and so between napkins and coffee shops, she wrote a book. She didn’t know anybody in the publishing business, was recently divorced, living with depression as a single mother, on welfare and her own mother had recently passed. Still she persisted, even after getting rejected 13 times from publishers. She had no resources AND no connections. She went on to publish a series of books and create a fandom so big that some rumored she was richer than the Queen of England. That story was Harry Potter and that woman was none other than J.K. Rowling.

Excuse Buster!: Nothing is going to fall in your lap, if you want your dream to happen, persist with a resilient heart.

3. There’s Not Enough Hours in the Day

I honestly think that nowadays we use ‘busy’ as a badge of honor and it’s so not ok. So let’s do this one thing first, just rip the busy badge off and throw it in the trash where it belongs. It is no longer a viable excuse to hold yourself back from following your dreams. I’m not going to lecture you on your social media use or the endless binge-watching. You know the truth, only you know how long you spend on your phone, so I won’t even bother saying it.

Time is precious. If you draw out a circle and divide it with the things you spend most of your time in, you’ll realize that there is actually enough time for everything you are just wasting it a lot. In my pursuit to adopt a mindful living, I recently downloaded the App Moment. It shows you how long you use your phone every day, I was surprised to see I spend on average 3-4 hours a day! Can you imagine what I can do in 3-4 hours? A LOT. This is not counting my lunch or coffee breaks or my random spirals thinking of the future or the past.

Excuse Buster!: It’s not about having enough time, but about making enough time.

4. It’s All Been Done Before

Ok sure, I hear you. Maybe it has all been done before, but not by YOU. No one has the unique combo of skillset and story that you do. There is literally no one on this entire planet that can do what you can do! Isn’t that amazing? Only you have the ability to do, teach and create something awesome with your talents and vision.

Think about it, how many versions of Cinderella have you seen? There’s the animated classic by Walt Disney, the live-action remake, there’s the very 2000’s Hilary Duff version, the very dramatic Drew Barrymore one, the very weird one with Lucy Hale that I keep trying to erase from my memory, and oh yeah the Selena Gomez one. I mean isn’t it all the same story anyway? There’s even more than the ones I mentioned (you can see them ranked here). They all made money and starred a strong female lead. It was just about perspective and story.

Excuse Buster!: No one has your unique set of talents, story and perspective and that is your magic.

5. Not Good Enough

Let me stop you right there. You ARE enough. You already have it in you to make that dream of yours happen. Thinking that you don’t have what it takes, aren’t smart enough or good enough is just fear talking. It’s your limiting beliefs that wanna keep you in your comfort zone. Your mind wanting to keep you safe from the feelings of failure. But hey, if you never try, you’ll never know.

You were put on this planet for a reason. You think God/The Universe put you here to just pay bills until you die? No. You have magical gifts that only you have, a dream with a purpose and it is your inherent right as a child of this earth to make it happen.

Excuse Buster!: You are enough, your talents are enough and your dreams are worthy to become real.

Don’t Hold Yourself Back From Following Your Dreams!

Dreams are beautiful, pursuing them is magical and living them is well, a dream! Ha! It is my hope that I can encourage you to pursue those big beautiful dreams of yours. I honestly think that you are amazing and capable. Give yourself a chance! Most dreams fade due to fear, and fear is just made up excuses anyway. So use those excuse busters and take action! I am with you and behind you 100% of the way.

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Share your dream with me in the comments below! I wanna know what you are doing to make it happen.