If you haven’t been as productive or focused or engaged this month as you should have with getting a handle on you wellness, independence or work goals, don’t beat yourself up over it! Instead, take stock and move on.

Write down 10 specific excuses (out of a zillion, right?) that have gotten you into trouble this month, making you feel less than, not good enough, lazy, etc. The goal is simple: don’t repeat these excuses. Any excuse you’ve used this month is already used up once you’ve done it, accounted for it and written it down. Wash your hands of it. Done! You can’t use these excuses on your list anymore to keep you from taking better care of yourself, being more independent, seeking the services out there that are best for you, connecting with the options important to you being your best. This will challenge you to either become really creative with your mind’s little excuse factory that keeps cranking you mindlessly into not doing your best.

Or you’ll just have to buckle down and get to work on such things as: finding helpful services, applying for work, hiring your personal support attendant, getting to physical therapy or rehab, checking your blood levels, getting enough rest, getting out more, advocating for changes in your community, connecting with more people.

Does that sound fair to you? I’ve always loved the feeling I get when I call something a “project”. You can make anything sound impressive by calling it a project. I don’t care if it’s getting up earlier, going to bed earlier, doing your physical therapy, taking your medications on time or sticking to your eating plan.

That said; let’s call this our “No More Excuses Project”. Here are 10 excuses I’ve used up for this month. I can’t use them again. No way! Here we go:

1. I’m so exhausted. I just need to do something mindless for a while.
2. I’ve made a little progress today. That’s good enough, right?
3. Junk food isn’t that bad for me. And it’s convenient!
4.I’ll just sleep five more minutes. Or 10…eh, maybe 15.
5. I need to wait until the inspiration overtakes me.
6. I’ll get to work on my exercises after I finish this show.
7. I left a message. I’ll just wait until they call back to pursue anything further.
8. I’ll work even harder on looking for help on this tomorrow.
9. They won’t care if I’m a little late for my appointment.
10. I’ll ignore that craving. I know it won’t come back if I wait it out.

Writing this list made me realize how many of my excuses are about procrastination, putting it off…and then not doing it! Or, if the excuse was about avoiding exercise, the doctor or a certain food, I just bombed and got lazy, didn’t make it to the doctor or totally ate more than I meant to or completely the wrong thing. Almost all of these excuses are about putting something off so you aren’t leading your best life or showing up in life as your best self. Did you notice that? It’s another way to show you how much clarity you’ll get around things when you write them down. What excuse trends have you noticed in your life? Write them down and check them off.

There are a lot of excuses out there calling our names to keep us from being independent, healthy and fulfilled people with disabilities. Tackling just 10 each month seems like a small number, especially if we’re targeting specific excuses. But we’ve got to start somewhere! Why not here and now? -- Wait! That was a rhetorical question. No excuses.

And getting rid of 10 excuses a month is concrete and manageable. That is so very important. What’s more, if we really can beat these excuses at the punch from our daily lives, the overall impact will be tremendous to our overall wellness, self esteem, independence, quality of life, finances and more. Give this a try for yourself. See where it takes you. It can only lead to somewhere better than where you are right now!