If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ~Gandhi

In our last conversation, we talked about The Resistance; that invisible force that rises to oppose any action we try to make to improve ourselves or the universe. We know that The Resistance makes it hard to create change. When it feels like we have an enemy pushing back against us, it’s true, The Resistance is there pushing!

One of The Resistance’s most subtle tactics is to distract us from the project of making change for ourselves so that we’ll start to blame others.

• That crappy Art Director screwed up again; now I’m going to have to redo all of his work… 
• I would reach out to that new client this week, but I’ve got all these screwed up projects that I have to fix first. 
• I was all set to write that new keynote, but Seth Godin stole my idea in his blog post today.

See how we’ve subtly shifted from a point-of-view where we are the actor making the change, to a point-of-view where someone else has taken control and is stopping us?

Whatever your excuse is (and maybe your excuses are more subtle and clever than my examples) know one thing for sure. It’s complete and total head trash. It’s a lie that The Resistance has planted to keep you stuck and afraid. 

What lies or excuses are you living with that need to die today?