From time to time, we fail to meet a deadline or come short of some standard of excellence. When we start, the scenario plays out perfectly in our minds. But, somehow, we miss it at the end. Well, maybe that’s just me…
I recently came across the perfect excuse.
So, let’s say that I have this grand plan that I’m going to accomplish some goal at home: to clean and organize my home office. We moved into our house at the beginning of last summer. The office quickly became an all-purpose room, including a storage center. In my mind, I had all the time in the world and the perfect organizational plan ever conceived. By the deadline, however, I was just hoping for a Mary Poppins’ moment (where I could just snap my fingers and have everything jump into place).
That is when I discovered the perfect excuse: I was just too busy.
I couldn’t help how busy I was. Or could I?
Did I over-commit to thing? Was I over-confident (arrogant, egotistical, etc.) about what I could accomplish? Did I plan and use my time wisely? Was I just lazy?
For me, it was probably a little of all of this. I have the tendency to say ‘yes’ too much. I’m improving, but I still need some work on saying ‘n-‘. I over-committed my time.
One of the reasons I over-committed was because I was over-confident in my abilities. I let my ego take over since I am just a cape short of Superman. I thought that I could handle everything perfectly and in record time.
I also have a lazy side. I try to keep it hidden by staying busy. But it’s always there. It saps a few minutes here and there. Sometimes it sneaks an hour or two. My laziness also partners up with my distracted side (oh, a shiny object…).
I guess my “perfect excuse” doesn’t hold water after all.
I’ve heard this about excuses: “An excuse is the shell of a reason stuffed with a lie.” A reason may be justified, but rarely is it the reason for our failure. I had my reason (being too busy), but it had no real substance to it.
Question: Do you have any excuses that didn’t pass the test?
“Its not my fault, so and so didn’t get their task done so I couldn’t complete mine” — I used to use this one, but all in all it still means you didn’t do what you needed to do.
You have to ask your self what you could have done to help them get their job done, how could I have helped, what could I have done.
Those are great questions to ask yourself! Instead of just waiting for someone else (victim attitude), help them finish their part so you can do yours (team player). This can help to create a great culture.
I sometimes end up saying X is not as important as Y – but really it’s not as important to ME. I need to be more aware of priorities and not let the excuses build. Great post!
We all need to watch our priorities. It can be easy to let the truly important things get pushed aside by the “urgent” things in life. By the way, remember that “X” marks the spot – so it’s important! 🙂
Great post Joshua! Thanks for the reminder. I’ll bet that everyone in this little tribe struggles with over-commitment. We’ve all got our excuses, don’t we? My personal favorite : “Easily distracted by the urgent.” sometimes the important doesn’t stand a chance against the urgent. For help with that, I go back to Nehemiah… I love how he says: “I am involved in a great work & I can’t come down to meet him (Sanbalat).” It’s easier to say NO when we’re working on a bigger Yes.
That’s a great passage. I never thought of it quite like that, but definitely a great application.