Make excuses

Last weekend, I watched Frozen 2 with my kids.

The epic Let It Go-style song this time is Into the Unknown. The song is a master class of making excuses.

At the beginning of the song, Elsa Refuses the Call, one of the stages of the Hero’s Journey. She explains why “I’m blocking out your calls,” singing:

I can hear you but I won’t

Some look for trouble while others don’t

There’s a thousand reasons I should go about my day

And ignore your whispers which I wish would go away

She doesn’t trust the siren song that calls to her, which only she can hear. She says that she’s already had an adventure and she doesn’t need something new. She fears risking her relationship with her sister.

All reasonable. All valid excuses.

Maybe don’t follow mysterious voices into unknown lands when you’re queen and have responsibilities for your kingdom?

But eventually, Elsa admits that “there’s part of me that longs to go into the unknown.”

No spoilers, but — surprise surprise — Elsa does venture into an Enchanted Forest and beyond, traveling deep into uncharted territory and into her own memories and motivations.

She vanquishes excuses. She answers the Call to Adventure.

It’s easy to find motivational quotes about how excuses are holding you back.

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Never make excuses. Your friends don’t need them and your foes won’t believe them.” ―John Wooden

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” ―George Washington Carver

Just stop making excuses, motivational posts tell you, and success will follow.

Is it really that easy, though?

Excuses serve an important purpose. They’re also essential for creativity.

The Latin root of excuse — ex-causa — means you don’t have cause. Often, there just aren’t good enough reasons to follow through on an idea.

Excuses help you focus. You can’t say yes to everything or you’ll never get anything accomplished. Saying no helps you focus on what you really want or need to do.

[Read more: Focus is the only way to move from ideas to reality]

You don’t have time. You don’t have money. You’re not ready yet.

These are all valid excuses.

Most of the time, you should listen to your excuses.

But not all the time. Sometimes you should list all the reasons why you shouldn’t move forward — then do it anyway. Ultimately, these excuses will make you more committed.

Later in Frozen 2, Elsa faces many dangers and even potential death. Yet each time she has a chance to accept the easy way out, she travels deeper, takes more risks and keeps going.

Why? Because she already convinced herself that this journey was worth the risks. She knew the excuses and did it anyway.

According to the psychological Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, humans strive for consistency between their beliefs and actions. If they perceive an inconsistency between their beliefs and actions, they’ll take steps to reduce the cognitive dissonance.

One of the ways to reduce cognitive dissonance is to tell yourself that something difficult is well worth the sacrifice.

An example of this is running a marathon. Running 26.2 miles can be agonizing. In the final miles, your mind and body tell you to just stop running and doing damage to your body. Any reasonable person would quit.

Then you tell yourself that you paid good money to inflict pain on your body. That signals it must really be worth the effort. So you align your beliefs — that running a marathon is worthwhile — to match and motivate your actions — continuing to run even as your body falls apart.

[Read more: The agony of victory]

The same is true of any difficult journey.

In the stages of the Hero’s Journey, there’s a reason why Refusal of the Call takes place before Answering the Call. It raises the stakes. It tests your resolve.

Before you start, you have to first understand the effort and sacrifice it will take to proceed with your journey. You have to understand that a reasonable person would just stay home in the safe, comfortable, Ordinary World. You have to understand that excuses are perfectly rational, even expected.

But if you truly consider the excuses — and then reject them — you’ll be more determined.

To be clear, excuses after the fact can justify failure. But excuses at the beginning ensure that you only take on what you actually care about, and what you really want to finish.

If it’s not hard enough to make excuses, then it wouldn’t be worth it.

***

Tim Cigelske is the author of The Creative Journey: A Timeless Approach to Discovery. He draws on his experience as a journalist writing about creative people from all walks of life, including farmer, children’s author, comic book artist and Pixar animator. His writing has appeared in Runner’s World, Adventure Cyclist and Onion AV Club. Ashton Kutcher called him a “clever punk.” Sign up for his weekly newsletter: https://bit.ly/timshottakes