Your Higher Nature

“I’m Only Human”: Why That Excuse Is Robbing You of Your Higher Nature

By Steve Rizzo, The Mindset Adjuster | Your Higher Nature

The Excuse We All Reach For

At some point, every business owner and every driven professional hits a wall. A deal falls through. A team member drops the ball. The numbers don’t add up the way you promised the board they would. And in that moment, a familiar phrase slips out: “I’m only human.” It sounds humble. It sounds reasonable. Frankly, it sounds like the kind of thing a mature adult says when life gets hard.

But here’s the problem: it’s a lie we’ve all agreed to believe. In my book, Conversations With Bob, I introduce two characters who live inside every one of us — Bob and Bernie. Bernie is the one who says “I’m only human.” He lives in the Negative Zone, where every setback gets blown wildly out of proportion and every challenge turns into a five-alarm emotional fire. Bob, on the other hand, represents your Higher Nature — the part of you that already has the solution to whatever you’re dealing with, if you’re willing to listen for it.

When Bernie says “I’m only human,” Bob doesn’t let him off the hook that easily. Bob’s response is simple and direct: No. There is a higher part of you that has solutions to what you’re dealing with or going through. That single correction changes everything about how you show up in business and in life.

Meet Bernie: The Voice That Keeps You Small

Let’s be honest about who Bernie really is, because most of us know him intimately. Bernie is the internal voice that surfaces the moment things get uncomfortable. He’s the one whispering that you’re not cut out for this, that the setback is proof you were right to doubt yourself, that “I’m only human” is a perfectly good place to stop trying.

In a business context, Bernie shows up constantly. He’s the voice that convinces you to avoid the difficult conversation with an underperforming employee. He’s the one telling you the pitch isn’t ready, the pricing is wrong, the market has moved on without you. Bernie isn’t malicious — he’s just scared, and fear has a way of making small problems feel enormous. As a result, Bernie’s solutions (if you can even call them that) usually involve retreating, complaining, or settling for less than what’s actually possible.

The trouble is, when we default to Bernie’s script, we mistake his panic for realism. We tell ourselves we’re just “being human,” when in reality we’re choosing the version of ourselves with the fewest resources and the least imagination.

Meet Bob: The Higher Nature Already Inside You

Now, contrast that with Bob. Bob doesn’t deny that a challenge exists — he simply refuses to accept that the challenge defines your capacity to solve it. Bob represents your Higher Nature, that deeper layer of wisdom, creativity, and resourcefulness that exists in every one of us, even when Bernie is doing his best to drown it out.

Here’s what’s important to understand: Bob isn’t some rare gift reserved for a lucky few entrepreneurs or naturally gifted leaders. Bob is available to everyone, in every boardroom, on every sales call, during every difficult negotiation. The solutions to your biggest business problems aren’t missing — they’re simply being outshouted by Bernie’s noise. Once you learn to recognize that noise for what it is, you create space for Bob’s quieter, wiser voice to come through.

This is why the conversation between Bob and Bernie matters so much for business owners and professionals specifically. You are, quite literally, in the solutions business. Clients hire you because you solve problems. Teams follow you because you find a way forward when the path isn’t obvious. If you let Bernie run the show, you’ll default to excuses. If you let Bob lead, you’ll default to answers.

Your Higher Nature: “I’m Only Human” Sounds Humble, But It’s Actually a Trap

Let’s dig a little deeper into why this specific phrase is so dangerous. On the surface, “I’m only human” sounds like healthy self-compassion. Nobody’s disputing that you have limits, that you’ll make mistakes, or that perfection isn’t the goal. That part is true and worth honoring.

However, the phrase becomes a trap the moment it’s used to shut down the search for a solution. There’s a big difference between saying “I made a mistake, and I’m human, so let me learn from it and keep moving,” and saying “I’m only human” as a way of throwing your hands up and stopping the search altogether. The first version honors your humanity while still engaging your Higher Nature. The second version uses your humanity as an excuse to stay stuck.

Think about the leaders you admire most. Chances are, they didn’t get there by accepting every obstacle as unsolvable. Instead, they treated “I’m only human” as the starting line, not the finish line. They acknowledged the difficulty, and then they kept digging for the answer anyway.

How to Shift From Bernie to Bob in Real Time

So how do you actually make this shift when you’re mid-crisis, staring down a missed deadline or a client who just walked? It starts with awareness. The moment you notice yourself reaching for an excuse, a complaint, or a resigned “that’s just how it is,” pause and ask yourself: is this Bernie talking, or is this Bob?

From there, give yourself permission to ask a better question. Instead of “why is this happening to me,” try “what does my Higher Nature already know about how to handle this?” That small shift in language activates a completely different part of your thinking. You move from victim mode into problem-solving mode almost instantly.

It also helps to surround yourself with reminders of your own resourcefulness. Keep a list of past challenges you’ve overcome, especially the ones that felt impossible in the moment. When Bernie insists you’re stuck, that list becomes evidence that Bob has come through for you before, and he’ll come through again.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of lightening up. I’ve built my entire career around the idea that laughter and a strong sense of humor aren’t distractions from serious problem-solving — they’re fuel for it. When you approach a setback with your inner HUMOR BEING intact instead of gripped by panic, you access far more creativity than when you’re clenched up with fear. Bernie thrives on tension. Bob thrives on openness. Humor is one of the fastest ways to create that openness.

Your Higher Nature: Why This Matters for Leadership

If you’re leading a team, this distinction becomes even more important, because your team is always watching which voice you listen to. When you default to Bernie in front of your people — complaining, catastrophizing, throwing up your hands — you give them permission to do the same. Negativity, much like energy, has a way of trickling down through an organization until it becomes the culture.

On the other hand, when your team consistently sees you pause, breathe, and search for solutions instead of excuses, you’re modeling something incredibly valuable: the belief that problems are solvable and that giving up is never the only option. That belief becomes contagious in the best possible way. Your team starts reaching for their own inner Bob instead of settling into their own version of Bernie.

In other words, this isn’t just a personal growth exercise. It’s a leadership strategy. Every business owner and professional who wants to build a resilient, solutions-oriented culture has to start by managing this internal dialogue in themselves first.

The Real Meaning Behind “I’m Only Human”

So the next time you catch yourself saying “I’m only human,” don’t just accept it and move on. Recognize it for what it is: Bernie’s opening line, not the whole story. Being human doesn’t mean you’re powerless. It means you have access to something deeper — a Higher Nature that has been quietly holding solutions the entire time, waiting for you to stop arguing for your limitations and start listening for your capabilities.

You are, indeed, only human. But you’re also so much more than that. Every challenge you’re facing in your business right now — the tough client, the stalled project, the team conflict — already has a solution attached to it somewhere inside your own Higher Nature. Your job isn’t to invent that solution out of nowhere. Your job is simply to stop letting Bernie talk you out of looking for it.

That’s the real conversation worth having with yourself, day after day. Not “I’m only human,” but rather, “What does the higher part of me already know?” Ask that question consistently, and you’ll be amazed at how often the answer shows up.

Ultimately, the goal isn’t to silence Bernie forever — he’s part of being human, and he’ll likely show up again the next time things get hard. The goal is to stop mistaking his voice for the only voice available to you. Once you know the difference, you get to choose, every single time, which one gets to lead.

To check out the Conversations With Bob book, click here.

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Steve Rizzo, The Mindset Adjuster, is a Hall of Fame keynote speaker and author of Conversations With Bob. He helps business leaders and professionals shift from the Negative Zone to their Higher Nature so they can lead with clarity, resilience, and humor. Learn more at steverizzo.com.