Dear Friend,
"Some favorite expressions of small children:
"It's not my fault...They made me do it...I forgot."
Some favorite expressions of adults:
"It's not my job. . . No one told me. . . It couldn't be helped."
True freedom begins and ends with personal accountability."
-Dan Zadra
Do any of the following sound familiar?
• If I didn't have a work dinner on Thursday then I could start my diet on
Monday.
• If I had more money then I would be happy.
• If I had more time in the day I would be able to get my projects completed
• If my boss gave me more praise then I would be satisfied.
• If there wasn't so much traffic then I would be on time.
• If my spouse didn't travel as much then I would be able to exercise.
• If I had more than one hour I could...
-Clean the closet,
-Write the proposal,
-Organize the garage,
-Take down the holiday decorations...and on and on the list goes.
If any these sound familiar, then you (like me) suffer from what I call the "if only"
syndrome. It is the voice in your head that says, "if only" something were different
then I would be able to do what I need to do.
It is easy to make excuses, to blame others, or even to shirk responsibility in the
name of a loved one or even traffic! However, when we make excuses we release
ourselves from accountability. We create a story of why we are justified in not doing
what we know we need to do. When we stop making excuses and hold ourselves accountable for creating our own dreams, we begin to transform our lives. We transform our lives by actually achieving what we set out to do and not using others as an excuse or placing blame on them
rather than ourselves.
Consider this hilarious children's poem, All My Great Excuses, by Kenn Nesbitt.
Perhaps there is a lesson for us adults?
I started on my homework
but my pen ran out of ink.
My hamster ate my homework.
My computer's on the blink.
I accidentally dropped it
in the soup my mom was cooking.
My brother flushed it down the toilet
when I wasn't looking.
My mother ran my homework
through the washer and the dryer.
An airplane crashed into our house.
My homework caught on fire.
Tornadoes blew my notes away.
Volcanoes struck our town.
My notes were taken hostage
by an evil killer clown.
Some aliens abducted me.
I had a shark attack.
A pirate swiped my homework
and refused to give it back.
I worked on these excuses
so darned long my teacher said,
"I think you'll find it's easier
to do the work instead."
Make it Happen
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