In last week’s article (“Why Most Wannabe Investors Never Buy a Single Property (& How to Be Different!“), I talked about the importance of DECIDING what you want and then following up immediately with ACTION that brings you closer to your goals.

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One of the key factors that prevents people from taking action is making EXCUSES. Here are the 6 most common excuses so that you can recognize and overcome them.

6 Common Excuses That Keep You From Investing

Excuse #1: I’m Too Young

Maybe you feel like you’re too young to invest because you’re still in school or just out of school and have no professional experience whatsoever. You can’t believe anyone will take you seriously. Who would sell me a $1.5M apartment building? And so we decide to let years go by.

Related: Confessions of a Hesitant Investor: How I Let Go of Excuses, Took a Chance & Started Buying Property

To overcome this excuse, check out my article “How to Build Credibility to Make Your First Big Commercial Real Estate Deal” to make yourself look more credible than you may actually be or feel.

Excuse #2: I’m Too Old

Or maybe you have the opposite problem: you’re too old to get started with investing. You feel like you’ve been beaten down too much in life. It’s too late to take any risks; you have too many responsibilities. And you don’t have the energy anymore. The opportunity has passed.

Geesh, really? Let's look at all of the assets you have if you're a bit on the mature side: You have decades of real-life experience. You probably have equity, savings and/or an IRA. You have a network of friends, family and coworkers who might be interested in investing with you. And energy and outlook is all a matter of attitude.

Take advantage of what you have. Don’t let “old age” stop you from living life to the fullest. Now is the time.

Excuse #3: I Have No Money

I LOVE this one because it’s SO common, especially for people who want to get into bigger commercial deals.

My response? If you don’t have your own money or credit, then raise it from others. In fact, if you DO have your own cash, raise money anyway. If you acquire the skill to raise money, then the sky is the limit.

I write a LOT about raising money. Check out my articles here on the BiggerPockets:

• A Step-by-Step Guide to Ace Your First Investor Meeting
• How to Structure Syndicated Investor Deals: What Investors Are Looking For
• How To Be Taken Seriously as an Up-and-Coming Real Estate Syndicator
• Syndicated Apartment Building Deal: a Case Study
• How to Find Investors To Fund Your Real Estate Deals
• The # 1 Secret to Raising Money to Invest in Apartment Buildings

Excuse #4: I Have No Experience

This is somewhat related to Excuse #1, and it affects people of all ages. The cure is still to make yourself look more credible than you think you might be. Re-read the article “How to Build Credibility to Make Your First Big Commercial Real Estate Deal.”

Every successful real estate investor at one point started without any experience. Why should you be any different? The funny thing with experience is that you only get it if you get started and do something. So get started — today.

Excuse #5: I’m Not Ready

I’ve met countless real estate investors who attend class after class, but never actually implement anything they’ve learned. It’s not that the system they’re learning doesn’t work, it’s that they feel they’re not fully prepared to take action.

And that’s a big mistake.

The truth is that even the most successful people were never fully prepared when they first started doing whatever brought them to success today.

The solution: Take action.

To overcome this excuse, write down ONLY the next THREE things you know you should do next. Then do them, and when you’re done, repeat the process. If you do this over and over again, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish. Read more about this in my article, “How to Accomplish Any Overwhelming Task in 3 Easy Steps.”

Related: 6 Phrases All Real Estate Investors Should Ban From Their Vocabularies

Excuse #6: I Have No Time

Ah yes, we love this one, don’t we? We have a job. We have a family. We’re too busy. We’ll do it once the holidays are over. When the kids are out of the house. When we’re retired.

The truth is, it’s not about time. It’s about priorities. When you say you don’t have the time, what you’re really saying is that “it’s not really important.”

To make my point: If you got a call today that a loved one was critically ill and only had a few days to live, wouldn’t you drop EVERYTHING and go visit that person before it’s too late? Of course you would. Because at that moment, spending time with your loved one is more important than anything else, including the 101 top-priority things on your to-do list.

When your excuse is that you have no time, seriously ask yourself how badly you want to accomplish the goals you say you want to accomplish.

I always say:

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and where there is no will, there is no way.”

When you’re making excuses, examine your will. Maybe you don’t really want that which you say you want. Or at least not badly enough to really do anything about it.

Excuses are the biggest obstacle to taking action and accomplishing our goals. Become aware of these 6 excuses and be very intentional about overcoming them so that they can’t hold you back from achieving your dreams.

What excuse are you struggling with right now? What excuses have you overcome to grow your real estate business?

Be sure to let me know with a comment!