Bethany Hamilton wanted to be a professional surfer and she had a good excuse for never doing so. At the age of thirteen, Bethany was attacked by a 14-foot Tiger shark while surfing off Kauai’s North Short. The attack left Bethany with a completely severed left arm. Losing an arm is a viable excuse for never achieving your goals…however, it is still an excuse.

Excuses, even viable excuses are the reason so many individuals never achieve at or above potential. Those who are the most successful are those who have learned to develop the “no excuse” mentality.

When a person gives an excuse, they literally reinforce that the future behavior will be the same. It is only when we vehemently refuse to offer an excuse that we open our future to growth and improvement.

At one time or another there is a very good reason, a viable excuse, for all of us to fail. If you give yourself permission to only succeed when the conditions are perfect, you will consistently come up short in life. The next time you find yourself on the losing end of success, find the closest mirror, look yourself in the eye and say, ”I’m sorry. There is no excuse. I will get better”. Say it to yourself. Say it out loud. Say it and mean it.

Learn to develop the “no excuse” attitude and literally watch how your life begins to change for the better. Anxiety, guilt and stress will be replaced with pride, improvement and increased success. People will start to respect you more and you will begin to respect yourself more.

Avoid the trap of excusing sub-par performance even when you have a good excuse. Learn to find a way to work harder or smarter or differently so that you can be the one who always finds a way to get it done.

Be like Bethany…find a way to get it done…no matter what. To see Bethany’s story check out the following link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DF1Clfb3Vc&feature=related)