How to Know If You Are In Serious Trouble… Excuses
Beware of the trap of making excuses and the Automatic Excuse System
This is the first sign that a project, a person, or a life is in trouble. Sometimes, excuses begin before the action/project.
Silently, our subconscious begins to look for an excuse, deniability, sabotage, and someone to blame. That gives us the confidence we need and also peace of mind. Of course, if you have an excuse, it’s much easier to stay calm when the police show up.
Incredibly and very often, it is before the project, the challenge, the opportunity, or the person appears that we look for the excuse. In our minds, we say to ourselves, “Well, I can start with this, and if it doesn’t work perfectly, I can say that it was the fault of… Or I can say that it was due to a lack of…. I am safe”.”
“It’s not my fault.”
So, what we need to do is refine our list of excuses. Primarily, when we work as a team, the boss shows up, and something unexpected happens (or not). That makes us remember all the factors that were out of our control, and of course, we can’t do anything to avoid it.
It’s not our fault. More than 10 years ago, when I worked in public relations for a nightclub in Alcoy, one day, I found myself describing why I couldn’t get more people into the nightclub to earn more. Then I realized that I was articulating those reasons while people were still thinking about whether to come in or not.
Automatic Excuse System
What I see every day — and there’s no exception on the work I’ve been doing with all kinds of people from different backgrounds, and even for myself — is that most of us have developed a default system of adaptable and almost automatic excuses. For example:
- Being the younger brother.
- Not being the horoscope sign you resonate with.
- Your parents’ education.
- The university you went to (if you went).
- The damage that your ex-partner did to you.
- The savings you have (if you have)
- The technology.
- …
We end up failing, and we do it because we always have the excuse ready when the situation gets complicated.
What if you escape the excuse path?
Here is an alternative to this life full of excuses: what would happen if you decided to run away from each and every excuse you find?
Instead of making excuses, avoid them.
The best projects I know are full of people who despise and punish excuses.
The best people I’ve ever met don’t know what an excuse is.
My most significant relationships have been based on truth, vulnerability and courage.
If you stop looking for opportunities to use your blaming ability, you will never need to blame anyone else.
If the police catch you robbing a bank, you don’t need to blame the alarm or the security cameras, right?
PS. Check out this story about 3 questions to consider to scale your impact, your game, and your life. If it resonates, you might consider listening to my podcast, The 1% — Disrupt Everything, where I interview the 1% world-class disruptors of all kinds (with alternate episodes in English and Spanish, too).
Ready to level up?
>>> Check my Holistic High-Performance training program 1:1 — and watch the Holistic High-Performance method Techstars talk here.
So, let’s keep dancing with impermanence.
Thanks for “you.”
IG 🥋
