No More Excuses
I remember the first time I heard the classic homework excuse, "My dog ate my homework" from a third-grade classmate who didn't even have a dog. The entire class, including the teacher, broke out in laughter.
I don't remember whether the excuse was effective but I do remember the laughter and the embarrassed-yet-proud expression on the face of my classmate.
Looking back, I realize how appropriate and natural the laughter was. Excuses should be laughed at, not dignified as they frequently are today. Excuses and responsibility cannot coexist.
As a responsible person, it is up to you to locate or create the solutions to the challenges of life. Whether it is something big or small, you're still responsible, and each time you give an excuse you diminish your respect, your credibility, and your integrity in your own eyes as well as the eyes of others. Each time you make an excuse, you reinforce your propensity to make even more excuses in the future, and excuse-making becomes a habit.
Commit to making your home, car and office an excuse-free zone. If a situation arises that previously called for an excuse, substitute the words, "I am responsible," where the excuse used to go. Try this out at work and in your relationship with your wife…and even on the golf course.
This is not an invitation to beat up on yourself but an encouragement to see the truth of how and why you got to where you are. Remember, somebody, somewhere has had it far worse than you and still succeeded. As men, when we acknowledge this truth can we be free to build a future that is far more exciting than our past.
Tommy Newberry is the author of Success Is Not an Accident and The 4:8 Principle available from Tyndale House Publishers this fall.
I don't remember whether the excuse was effective but I do remember the laughter and the embarrassed-yet-proud expression on the face of my classmate.
Looking back, I realize how appropriate and natural the laughter was. Excuses should be laughed at, not dignified as they frequently are today. Excuses and responsibility cannot coexist.
As a responsible person, it is up to you to locate or create the solutions to the challenges of life. Whether it is something big or small, you're still responsible, and each time you give an excuse you diminish your respect, your credibility, and your integrity in your own eyes as well as the eyes of others. Each time you make an excuse, you reinforce your propensity to make even more excuses in the future, and excuse-making becomes a habit.
Commit to making your home, car and office an excuse-free zone. If a situation arises that previously called for an excuse, substitute the words, "I am responsible," where the excuse used to go. Try this out at work and in your relationship with your wife…and even on the golf course.
This is not an invitation to beat up on yourself but an encouragement to see the truth of how and why you got to where you are. Remember, somebody, somewhere has had it far worse than you and still succeeded. As men, when we acknowledge this truth can we be free to build a future that is far more exciting than our past.
Tommy Newberry is the author of Success Is Not an Accident and The 4:8 Principle available from Tyndale House Publishers this fall.
posted by Drew Dyck at 1:04 PM
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