You can have vision boards plastered with a hundred goals. You can have ten mentors, a five-year plan, and a thousand reasons why you should succeed.

But if you believe one excuse for your failure - just one - you're screwed.

Not because you couldn’t succeed. Because you believed you wouldn’t.

That’s the dirty little secret of success: All the reasons in the world don’t matter if you still believe your limitations.

I’ve had them all. I’ve been broke, broken, and once upon a time, ate out of garbage cans. Talk about self-image damage.

I’ve had every excuse, every crutch, every story that could justify my lack of success. No education, homelessness, death, divorce, addiction, trauma and just about anything else most people are clinging to internally, as their reason for not succeeding. And for a while, I clung to them, too. They made failure make sense. They explained away missed potential. They were a solid, psychological defense mechanism. But they also kept me small.

One by one, I had to kill those excuses. I had to drag them into the daylight, stare them down, and kick their asses. Not with therapy. Not with affirmations. Not with "vibrations" or "karmic energy". With decisions and actions.

Maybe you think your gender, your race, your upbringing or your background and past traumas are the reason you're not succeeding. They're not.

Maybe you're blaming the economy, a previous employer who screwed you, or people you wanted to do business with, who didn't want to do business with you.

Cut the bullshit.

None of that is the reason you're not succeeding.

You want a turning point? It’s today.

Not some magical Monday. Not January 1st. Not when Mercury leaves retrograde or your schedule clears up. Today is the only day that matters. You need to make today matter.

How? Here’s what I do: Before I get out of bed, I ask myself one question:

What can I do to make today a great day?

Not a perfect life. Not a million-dollar month. Just One. Great. Day.

What excuse do I need to ignore - for just 24 hours?

What belief do I need to silence?

What habit do I need to break or at least minimize, just today?

Then I do it. I take action. I give that day everything I’ve got. My employees have heard me say "I'll spend an hour preparing for a five minute phone call" And I do. I spend an hour writing and rewriting and then having AI improve a ten sentence email. I prepare harder and better than anyone else. Then when I send that email or I'm on that call or in that meeting, I'm at my very best. I'm doing great. Just like I'm going to do today!

I stop excusing and start executing.

By the time I'm done with my coffee, I can already see HOW I'm going to win today.

Obviously, I don’t win every day. But I'm done letting excuses win.

Oh and when I have a great day? I acknowledge it. LOUDLY! I walk into the room and say "This has been a GREAT day!!!"

I've been saying that a lot lately. As if it's a habit! Because it is. I've replaced the habit of excuses with the habit of success.

It's time for you to do the same.

Frederick Shelton is a Market Advisor and Consultant to law firms, legal MSO's and funds on subjects which include legal AI, ABS models, MSO's and M&A. He can be reached at fs@sheltonsteele.com