Enough of Your Excuses

It makes me angry when otherwise amazing people find excuses to fail. Plenty has been written about what I am about to say, and none of my words are truly new, but maybe I can spin them in a way that someone finds useful.

Excuses let you say, “I failed because someone else did XYZ,” or “I failed because circumstance ABC was in my way.”

No. 99.99 percent of the time, you failed because you didn’t try hard enough. Don’t get me wrong, you can do everything right and still fail, but most of us, shockingly few of us, did everything right. There was room for improvement, and there was room for more effort. Why don’t we work harder? I think it is fear. If we work as hard as we can, and we fail, it is our fault. If we don’t try hard enough, it is someone else’s fault.

Find an excuse to succeed instead.

But that’s a lie. You chose to not work hard enough, and that is your fault too.

“But I have real problems,” you say.

Sure. You and everyone else.

I wrote a piece ages ago about Helen Keller. Do you have worse problems?

“I am poor.” Libraries are free. Learn a skill to get yourself moving forward. You may not make it all the way to millionaire, but wouldn’t twice what you have today be better?

“I was abused as a child.” Many people were, and we hear about their stories all the time. They rose up and conquered their past, and became an inspiration to others to show, “You are more than your pain, and more than someone else’s failure.”

“I am black, white, male, female, in an XYZ-dominated field.” So what? So were other pioneers before you. Are you in a worse position than they were? Are you truly the first? Not likely.

Find an excuse to succeed. People walk through life looking for excuses to fail, and we never see people looking for an excuse to succeed. “I grew up poorer than others, so I know how to get by on less. I know how to work harder for the same result. I am resilient.” That is an excuse to win. “I grew up so poor we didn’t have heat, much less air conditioning. I am never bothered by the cold or the heat; I can work outside all day.” An excuse to succeed. “I had no friends growing up, so I learned how to be more imaginative, read for long periods of time, and be comfortable with silence.” Those are skills, and those are excuses to succeed. The list goes on.

Don’t be one of the people who can only see the reasons they can’t win. Find an excuse to succeed. They are everywhere, if you decide to look for them.