Like blame, excuses are a defense mechanism we use to avoid facing our problems. It’s easy to push our hopes, desires, and dreams aside when we have excuses for not having time, money, power, connections, or being too busy. We start to hide behind those excuses instead of taking action to move forward.

But the only right answer—if you’re truly committed to improvement—is to learn how to be completely accountable for what you do, even in the face of adversity. That means no excuses. Not even viable ones.