Do you find yourself frequently making excuses for what you did or didn’t do? If so, this article is for you!
Excuses are designed to get you out of trouble, preventing you from seeing what you need to see, preventing you from admitting what you have to admit. Yes, it will be painful to remove your excuses. But in the long run, you’ll be better off because you’ll have less regret, less guilt, and less nonsense.
If you are an excuse maker, be open to trying something different. Stop the excuses! Have an honest conversation with yourself. If you haven’t done something you said you would do, admit it! If you’re feeling inadequate, scared, or depressed, admit it! If you are disappointed in your achievements, admit it! If you feel like your relationships lack intimacy, admit it! If you feel like you are lost in the woods, admit it!
One word of caution: when you admit the truth to yourself, don’t make the truth sound horrible. You don’t need to see yourself as a bad person. You have human weaknesses, like all of us. Maybe you feel scared, stupid, or lazy. Maybe you feel lazy, lost, or loveless. Maybe you are overweight, drink too much, or sleep too much.
Okay! Acknowledge your flaws. Acknowledge your truth. Then you can start to improve your life. Excuses can surely bail you out for the moment, but as time goes on they rob you of a richer and more satisfying way of life.
Jeff was a mid-level manager who believed he was on the fast track to success. He had a good job at a design company that he said he liked. However, his workday seemed less than satisfactory. Although he had a lot of work to do, his mind would wander. He invited interruptions such as phone calls, walk-ins, long lunches, sudden errands, preferring the novelty of the unexpected to the boredom of dealing with the task at hand.
Initially, those who worked for him thought he was a conscientious and caring man, when he told them: “No matter how busy I am, I am always available if you need to talk or want a helping hand.” What they didn’t realize was that their offers of help were actually pleas to distract themselves from their own work.
When Jeff was reprimanded by his boss for not completing the reports on time, he apologized for his failure and said, “How could you expect me to do all that work in such a short time?” After several of those reprimands, they released him. He explained his dismissal with excuses that began with that. “That It was a terrible time in the economy. That it was a poorly run company. That it was his loss. “That” served as his excuse, protecting himself from acknowledging the real reason they let him go. Another missed opportunity to become real with yourself!
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their Dreams, “ saying Eleanor Roosevelt. But it is not so beautiful if you maximize your dreaming time, you minimize your actions. Then when the rug is called, he wastes time making excuses. Could you do it better! You need to do better! You will do better!
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