How to Stop Making Excuses and Grow Your Business: Lessons from You Can Do Hard Things

Have you ever wondered why some people build thriving businesses while others with the same opportunity never seem to get off the ground? Have you ever caught yourself saying you do not have enough time, enough connections, or enough confidence — and then watched another week pass by without progress? And have you ever considered that the biggest obstacle between where you are and where you want to be might not be your circumstances, but the story you are telling yourself about them?

That is exactly what this book asks us to confront.

About You Can Do Hard Things by SheriLynn Alcala

This month's review for She Leads Off the Shelf focuses on You Can Do Hard Things by SheriLynn Alcala — a direct sales millionaire in the health and wellness space who writes with the directness of someone who has earned the right to speak plainly. Her central message is that pursuing your dreams requires a decision, not just a desire. You have to choose your goals, include God in the process, and then refuse to let difficulty become a reason to stop.

We are reading this book as part of a larger research effort — specifically to understand why some people succeed in the direct sales industry while others quit before they ever find their footing. This study falls under a Doctor of Business Administration program, where the work is not about staying in a library. A DBA is about taking what research already knows and putting it into practice in real businesses and real lives. That distinction matters for everything we share here at Kingdom Timekeepers.

Why We Study the Direct Sales Industry

Many people enter direct sales believing it will be straightforward. They see the social media highlights — the pretty packages, the income screenshots, the celebration posts — and think that success is just a matter of signing up and showing up. The reality is often much harder.

People join and quickly feel lost. They run out of their immediate circle of friends and family. They feel afraid to talk to strangers or go on camera. They start wondering whether the industry even works — when the real question is whether they are willing to do the work that the industry requires.

Reading this book was driven by specific questions worth sitting with. Why do some people become millionaires in direct sales while others never get traction? What creates the limiting beliefs that keep so many people stuck at the same level year after year? And how do we change our habits so we stop repeating the same patterns in every new opportunity we try?

These are not just direct sales questions. They are business questions. They are leadership questions. And the answers apply far beyond any single industry.

How to Study Books to Actually Grow

Annotation Changes Everything

Reading a book should not be a passive experience. If we just read the words and close the cover, the information will not stick and the growth will not happen. Intentional reading requires a different approach — one that treats every book as a resource to be mined rather than a task to be completed.

One of the most effective methods is annotation and color-coded highlighting. Rather than simply marking passages that feel important, we use different colors to serve different purposes.

One color might highlight key statements. Another might mark questions worth exploring further. A third might flag something directly applicable to our business or ministry right now.

Turning Statements Into Questions

Here is a specific practice worth adopting immediately. When an author makes a strong statement, instead of simply underlining it, we turn it into a question. If the book says that making decisions is critical to success, we write in the margin — why is decisive action so important for the specific kind of business I am building? What decisions have I been avoiding? What would change if I made them today?

By turning statements into questions, we expand our thinking. We begin generating new ideas for blog posts, products, content, and strategies that we would never have found just by reading passively. Those notes then go into a knowledge database — a system that allows us to build on what we have learned over time rather than letting each book become an isolated experience that fades within a few weeks. This is exactly the kind of knowledge management system we teach and use here at Kingdom Timekeepers.

The Danger of Making Excuses in Business

Alcala is direct about something that most people prefer not to hear — excuses are the biggest enemy of progress. They slow down our blessings and keep us from reaching the goals God placed on our hearts.

We tell ourselves we do not have enough time, when the truth is that we all have the same 24 hours and the question is how we choose to steward them. We say we do not know enough people, when the real issue is that we have not yet learned to expand our circle beyond the comfortable and familiar. We say we are not good on camera, when the truth is that being good on camera is a skill that is built through practice — not something people are simply born with.

The market is never too full for a voice with genuine purpose behind it. What makes us stand out is not originality for its own sake — it is the authenticity that comes from knowing exactly why we are doing what we are doing and serving the people in front of us with that clarity.

Taking action is the only path to progress. We can watch training videos, attend webinars, read every book on the shelf, and still make no real movement if none of that consumption leads to doing. Information without action is a comfortable trap that makes us feel productive while we are actually standing still.

The Motives and Intentions of the Heart

Why Your Heart Condition Determines Your Business Results

One of the most powerful takeaways from this book is that the condition of our heart — our true motivations and genuine intentions — determines how far we go. This is not just a spiritual observation. It is a practical business reality.

When we focus only on the financial outcome, we eventually stop seeing the person in front of us. We begin to see them as a transaction rather than a human being. That shift changes everything about how we show up, how we communicate, and how we build relationships. And relationships are the foundation of every sustainable business, regardless of the industry.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) says to guard the heart above all else, because everything we do flows from it. Alcala builds her entire framework around this truth without ever losing the practical thread. When we set aside our own agenda and focus genuinely on how we can serve others, the business begins to grow in ways that self-serving hustle never produces.

Staying Comfortable Will Not Produce Growth

The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything

Many of us stay in comfortable spaces because we are afraid of what we do not know. We say we want more income, more freedom, or a different kind of life — but we are not yet willing to change the habits that are producing the life we currently have.

Leaving one job for another without changing our mindset is like bringing the same luggage to a new destination. The problems travel with us because the problems were never about the place — they were about the patterns. Growth requires a genuine internal shift, not just a change of scenery.

At Kingdom Timekeepers, the goal is to show what it looks like to build without feeling constantly overwhelmed. Leadership means making hard decisions daily. It means choosing to work even when motivation is absent. It means deciding to grow internally before expecting growth externally. If we are tired of the life we are living, decisiveness is the starting point. We have to be willing to do the hard things that others are not willing to do.

Finding Your True Why

The foundation of any dream is the reason behind it. Our why needs to be stronger than our excuses — strong enough to carry us through the seasons when nothing seems to be working and quitting feels like the most reasonable option.

The right questions to sit with are these. Why did we start this in the first place? What happens to the people we are meant to serve if we quit? Who is watching us build and being shaped by how we respond to difficulty? And what does the version of our life that we actually want look like — specifically enough that we can feel the distance between where we are now and where we are going?

When things get hard, a clear why keeps us moving. It makes the necessary sacrifices feel worth it. It gives meaning to the lessons that arrive through failure, rejection, and the slow seasons that feel like nothing is happening.

Direct Sales as a Training Ground for Entrepreneurs

For anyone currently in direct sales who feels under-supported or unsure of where to start, here is a reframe worth holding onto. Treat the experience as a school. Even if the person who brought you in is not equipping you well, the situation itself is teaching you how to build something from the ground up.

Keep notes on what you are learning — not just about the products or the compensation plan, but about yourself. Where are you naturally strong? Where do you struggle? Are you better at connecting one-on-one than on stage? Are you gifted at follow-up but resistant to making the first contact? Every discovery about how we operate is information we can use to build something that fits us — now or in the future.

Every role we have ever held, every experience we have ever walked through, has deposited something useful. Nothing is wasted when we are paying attention.

Be Curious and Intentional About Growth

The woman who succeeds over the long term is not always the most talented one in the room. She is the one who stays curious long after others have stopped asking questions. She treats books, conversations, failures, and feedback as raw material for something she is building — not as obstacles or distractions.

If we want to turn what we are doing into a sustainable business, we need more than inspiration. We need a plan, a system, and the willingness to keep showing up even when the results have not arrived yet. Change starts with how we think and how we use our time — two things that are entirely within our control.

If you want to go deeper into these ideas, watch the full Book Review of You Can Do Hard Things here where we walk through how to use reading and annotation to build a real knowledge system for your business.

Final Words

You Can Do Hard Things is not a complicated book. But the message it carries is one that most of us need to hear more than once — that the road to a meaningful business is paved with hard choices, honest self-examination, and a willingness to keep going when every excuse in the world is available to justify stopping.

We must stop making excuses and start making decisions. Whether we are building in direct sales, entrepreneurship, ministry, or any other space, the principles are the same. Care about people. Manage time well. Guard the heart. Find the why and return to it often.

Success is not reserved for the most talented or the most resourced. It belongs to those who are willing to do the hard things — consistently, faithfully, and with God at the center of everything they build.