We often hear unsuccessful people say that 'success, wealth and fame' are just for the lucky few...for the ones who have been blessed with an influential family, who have special talents or maybe have had a lucky break at the right time. Excuses are often started with "But you don't understand...", and then a whole variety of reasons are given as to why they can never reach or achieve the goals and dreams they aspire to. You may hear reasons such as:

• I just don't have the talent for this,
• They only promote their blue-eyed boys,
• You must first have a qualification before they promote you,
• I don't have the money right now,
• I just don't have the time,
• I am too old for these things now,
• My health won't allow me.

And so the list goes on. Dr David Schwartz, author of The Magic of Thinking Big calls this excuse mentality "excusitis" disease. He says that "Excusitis explains the difference between the person who is going places and the fellow who is barely holding his own. You will find that the more successful the individual, the less inclined he is to make excuses."

The excuses made by an unsuccessful person can be, but are not, made by a successful person. The interesting thing is that mediocre people do not start off by believing these excuses to be true. They more or less know it is a lie, that it's an alibi for poor performance. Yet each time the individual speaks and repeats this excuse into existence it becomes more deeply engrained in the subconscious mind, until the lie becomes a "truth" (we are what we think about all day long).

The challenge is to test yourself right now. Where have you made so many excuses that they now have become your reality? Does your culture portray an array of excuses causing damage to the very existence and progress of your people? We must confront the possibility that we have handed over control to the "excusitis" disease. A victim mentality will certainly not create a life of abundance for us.