In one of his poems, Rudyard Kipling wrote – “we have forty million reasons for failure- but not one single excuse.”
Whenever we get stuck in any situation, our natural tendency is to pull up excuses.
- I can’t do take up this challenge because it is impractical.
- My workload is so much that I don’t have time to exercise.
- I prepared well, but the exam was challenging.
- What to do? The prospect favored our competitor because they were cheaper.
- I could not submit my proposal in time because I am dealing with many issues.
We conjure up our excuses to rationalize our failures, fears, bad habits, or tendency to procrastinate.
Whether you say it openly or you rationalize it in your mind, an excuse is an excuse. An excuse is a way to escape the psychological burden of taking responsibility for something not happening the way it is supposed to. It is a delusion you create in your mind to avoid accepting reality and to give yourself permission for not trying. An excuse gives you the right to pretend that you wanted to do something, but some external factor prevented you from doing so.
Giving yourself excuses is the most disempowering thing you can do. You will never achieve anything meaningful on a foundation of excuses. If you want to succeed in life, take full responsibility for your actions and stop making excuses.
Robin Sharma Says it nicely in one of his blogs – Don’t Fight For Your Excuses.