I wish there was a device that counted how many excuses we made in a day, a week, a month, and a year and could calculate the cost of opportunities lost.

“I can’t”.

“Next time.”

“I want to, but…”

“It’s too difficult.”

“I will get around to it after…”

“I’m not like you. We’re just different.”

How much time do we lose in our lives telling ourselves that we can’t achieve something? That we’re not good enough? We’re not smart enough? We don’t know where or how to start, so why even bother?

If we add that time up it is probably enough time to accomplish something small, then something medium, then something big, then something life-changing.

I remember when I told myself that I didn’t have time or didn’t need to (because I enjoyed where I was at in my career) go to graduate school.

Then, I was abruptly laid off of my $65k per year job.

I decided to take the time to go back to graduate school and I found a nights and weekends program at CSUN Music Industry Administration that fit my schedule.

That was a life-changing decision.

As a result, I had the availability and took an opportunity to teach at a college; and now I develop and teach a Billboard-recognized course at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

As a result, I took a music publishing and copyright administration class taught by Steve Winogradsky, which strengthen my interest in music rights, which evolved into a research-fueled obsession with conceptualizing strategies and solutions to a broken and seemingly unfair system, which became my area of expertise, which changed the focus of my profession as a music industry professional, and which shaped my achievements as a serial entrepreneur to the point that I’ve sold nearly $2M of my ideas in this space.

As a result, I’ve advanced my role as an executive and increased my pre-graduate school salary to post-graduate school salary by 115%.

As a result, I’ve been able to financially gift my family, claw myself out of debt, and afford certain life experiences.

As a result, I look at excuses differently now. I look at the cost of excuses differently now.

We can measure our achievements, but can we measure opportunities lost? The cost of putting it aside one more day?

How much will one of your excuses from this morning cost you?

I honestly believe that some people are so comfortable with struggling that they refuse to make uncomfortable changes in their lives that would see their outcomes improve in the future. It’s a “chasing immediate results” mindset that encourages them to think about and talk about how a better future could look; all the while simultaneously taking no actions that create long-term and lasting changes.

What is your 5 year goal?

What are your 2nd, 3rd and 4th year milestones?

What is your 12 month plan?

If you took stock of where you are today compared to where you were 5 years ago and have little to no measurable net improvement in income, wealth, professional or academic achievement, global life experiences, health and fitness, or relationship status (I don’t mean just single or taken, but rather does the new or existing relationship (or lack thereof) make you feel happier, more secure, better, more loved than this time 5 years ago?); then you need to think about breaking the cycle and making real changes.

Get used to doing things in phases, whereas a phase could be several months or years, and stop thinking in terms of quick and immediate results. Those generally prove not to be long-lasting.

I’ve completely changed my life outcomes by applying the above to myself. You can too.