A man’s alibi is the child of his own imagination. It is human nature.

A lot of us do not achieve our goals as we have ready-made excuses and reasons why we are not able to achieve success. As the saying goes: In life, we either have reasons or results, excuses or experiences, stories or success. As Mark Twain, once quipped: “There are a thousand excuses for failure but never a good reason.” The reasons we give for not living up to our potential are never good enough because no matter how bad you think your situation is, someone has gone through it and they succeeded hence your excuses are really not valid.

In Napoleon Hill’s classic book, Think and Grow Rich he shares the Fifty-Seven Famous Alibis by Old Man If and it is a very excellent list of famous excuses we all use for not achieving our goals and aspiration:

People who do not succeed have one distinguishing trait in common. They know all the reasons for failure, and have what they believe to be air-tight alibis to explain away their own lack of achievement. Some of these alibis are clever, and a few of them are justifiable by the facts. But alibis cannot be used for money. The world wants to know only one thing–HAVE YOU ACHIEVED SUCCESS?

A character analyst compiled a list of the most commonly used alibis. As you read the list, examine yourself carefully, and determine how many of these alibis, if any, are your own property.

IF I didn’t have a wife and family…

IF I had enough “pull”…

IF I had money…

IF I had a good education…

IF I could get a job…

IF I had good health…

IF I only had time…