A final obstacle to keeping your resolutions is excuses. I am so good at making excuses. If it were an Olympic event, I'd be bringing home the gold.

I'm so good at making excuses — and at letting those excuses keep me from my goals — that I finally had to make a new rule: Any time I make three excuses, I HAVE to do whatever I'm avoiding.

Let's face it. If you keep making excuses to avoid doing something, you know that there's no good reason NOT to do it. If you have a reason (note the different word) not to do something, one is all you need.

Here's an example: I often make excuses about why I can't go for a run on a given day. I can't find clean socks. My legs are sore. I should run some errands instead It's too hot. It's too cold. It's cloudy and might rain. You get the idea. On the other hand, if there's a real reason — say, it snowed earlier in the week and the sidewalks are covered in snow and ice or I'm ill — I only need one. Once the excuses start multiplying, it's a sure sign that they are just excuses.

What behaviors have you noted that keep you from doing the thinngs you know you should do?