Own Up: It's Time For Action Excuses are a curious little thing- sure, they offer us some sort of respite when something doesn't go according to our plans, but they also keep us in our comfort zones, holding us back from taking any action to move past the quandary in front of us.

My fitness trainer recently told me that I am someone who likes to complain. Now, as someone who often looks down on people who always moan about the state they are in while making no effort to change it, I'll confess here that I was taken aback by this assertion, and I threw back a volley of reasons to justify my whining about my exercise routine.

But even as I did so, I quickly realized everything I was saying was just a stream of excuses- sure, there were, arguably, plenty of valid reasons for my discontent, but I had to admit that they could all be drawn down to my unhealthy lifestyle choices in the first place.

Excuses are a curious little thing- sure, they offer us some sort of respite when something doesn't go according to our plans, but they also keep us in our comfort zones, holding us back from taking any action to move past the quandary in front of us. And I'm pretty sure that this is not an experience exclusive to me- especially in the world that we live in now. On good days, entrepreneurs are celebrated as the go-getters, the champions of change, the ones who dare- however, in times of crisis, many of them can be seen resigning themselves to the vagaries of fate.

For example, it's one thing to claim that the market isn't receptive to your offering at the moment- it's another thing altogether to not even try to look for alternative avenues you can explore as a business in the current circumstances. There's a similar complaint I hear from people who claim to be "stuck" in their jobs, since the environment isn't conducive for finding new ones- and this often means they are not making the effort to search for any openings at all.

As I said earlier, one can always find some kind of refuge in making excuses- but that does mean that no action is being taken in such scenarios either. So, what is to be done when one finds themselves in such a situation? My suggestion would be to start by acknowledging the fact that you are indeed making excuses for your current predicament. Take a break from blaming whoever and whatever you believe to have caused this situation you find yourself in- and figure out how you can get yourself out of it.

Identify those avenues that offer you at least the promise of a better future, and then take concerted steps to follow through on them. As the old aphorism goes, action begets action- just make sure that you don't fall back on the excuses that got you here in the first place.

Related: Opportunity Knocks: Dreams Don't Work Unless You Do