“I’ll start coming back to the gym when I lose weight.” That’s what I was told years ago by a member at a gym I personal trained for.

This comment struck me. Isn’t the gym a place where you go to lose weight?

From that point, I started to pay attention to the “When I …” It’s the out we give ourselves from taking action now, and is supported by the belief that we must do more to earn our right to be somewhere.

The “When I ….” is powerful because it often sounds like a legitimate excuse. But, more often than not, it creates a barrier to our growth and makes us use more energy than required.

During my time at the gym, a “When I …” person never came back through the doors. But, they generally kept their memberships and paid their monthly dues.

To think we must do more than required, or that we have to be perfect before we can show up in the world, is a distortion of the truth.

We may be limiting ourselves, when we use “When I …” as an excuse.