Benjamin Altadonna

"You gotta flip the switch!"

I need to wait until X, and X can be until I get another certification, or finish another training program, or until I get approved by something or other, or until my spouse gets this particular job, or until my kids' college education is finished, or until my daughter's wedding is over with, or any one of 8,000 other excuses.

My point is that if you're feeling unfulfilled, if you feel like you're on a treadmill, if you're feeling frustrated, and you feel like you're...there's a lot more, you're longing for more out of life, and you're not getting what you want out of life, what are you waiting for? What possible excuse could there be for not flipping the switch today? This minute, this instant. What are you waiting for?

I ask people this, and they go, well, you know, I don't know. And I've come to the conclusion that those excuses, which is what I'm going to end up with here, is that they all are nothing more than excuses. They're just...they're giant excuses. People call them reasons. I call them excuses. Because if you want to flip the switch, if you want to make the change, you've got to make up your mind that you're going to do it. Whenever you're ready, you're going to do it. You may never get ready, and you may never do it.

But when you flip that switch, things are going to change for you instantly. And the bad news is, you're the one that's got to flip the switch. And I always use the analogy of excuses, is that excuses to me are a lot like being in the womb. It's very warm and comfortable in there, but it's also very confining and restricting, and when you leave the womb and you enter the real world, you find that there's a whole different ballgame going on out there. And I don't know how it is in whatever state you guys are from, but here in California, we're not allowed to pay bills with excuses. None of the creditors in the State of Illinois allow bills to be paid with anything except money.

Excuses are not allowed to be used as currency. And excuses are something that you have to look at life a little bit differently. When you get to the point where you don't make excuses any more, and you don't feel excuses and experience excuses, that's a very different place and a very high level of accurate thinking. Because excuses are the ultimate of inaccurate thinking.

They're the absolute ultimate pinnacle of inaccurate thinking, when you allow yourself to be swindled by excuses in your own brain. And conned by yourself into saying, well, that's okay, this doesn't work, or I'm suffering like this, or I'm struggling through this because of X, yada, yada, whatever excuses you bring in, and you rationalize those things. It does not matter. It's up to you. But the reality is, when you stop making the excuses, you'll start making the money. I've heard the expression, which I believe is very true, that you're either good at making money or making excuses, but you can't be good at both.