We need to talk about something. Something that is painfully abundant and running rampant in every office, locker room, and classroom. Now, be warned. This is going to hurt some feelings, and that’s fine. You need to hear it. And then you need to adjust your mindset. I’m going to tell you what maybejustmaybe your mama (daddy/grandma/baseball coach/boss) never did. Are you ready?….
Nobody cares.
GASP.
Now, puddin’, of COURSE people care about YOU as a person. Of COURSE they care about your well being, your friendship, and your happiness. What people don’t care about is your excuses.
As humans, we all have a natural tendency to try to explain away our failures, our shortcomings, our misjudgments.
We want people to know WHY things didn’t turn out how they were supposed to. We want to make sure we state our case if we are in the wrong. We want to absolve ourselves of sole responsibility for our mistakes. We want to distance ourselves from our own failures. Excuses allow us to do this.
But, nobody cares.
Let’s play this out in a couple of scenarios, shall we?
You have a large project due at work. You’ve known about it for weeks. There are several other departments that you are relying on to complete the project, however, you are the owner. It is your responsibility to complete, finalize, and submit the project on time. One of the departments you are relying on for information is either non-responsive or does not provide the information you need. You follow up multiple times to no avail. Your deadline comes and goes, and you show up empty handed. The project is not completed. You just couldn’t get the answers that you needed from that pesky other department. You explain to your manager, “I tried several times to get the answers we needed, but they just wouldn’t respond.” Do you think your manager really cares why you missed the deadline? All your manager sees is that you have not delivered. But, hey, that’s not fair! It’s not YOUR fault! Sure, that’s probably true.
But, nobody cares.
Another scenario; You sign up for a half marathon to raise money for a local charity. You turn in your paperwork, you order your race t-shirt, you buy new running shoes, you are ready.to.go. This is going to be GREAT! You tell your family, your friends, your dog, your neighbors. You print out your training plan and slap it under a magnet on your fridge. You have plenty of time to prepare, months even! A piece of cake, really. Then, a few things come up. You have to go on a business trip for a few days and it derails your training for that week. You have a friend come in from out of town last minute to stay with you for the weekend. You feel obligated to host, so you postpone your training just a few more days. You don’t want to be rude! You’ll get right back at it the following week, no big deal. An unexpected weather front comes through and causes it to rain nonstop for 2 weeks straight. You were planning to run outdoors for your training. You hate to run on the treadmill because it’s boring. Suddenly, your half marathon race is next weekend and you have completed zero training. Family and friends have signed up to sponsor you. They have pledged money to support the local charity that the race benefits. All you had to do is prepare. But you are in no shape to run. But, wait! All these things happened! Work stuff, unexpected visitors, the weather! You want to explain yourself, “See, what had happened was….”
Guess what. Nobody cares.
Many times, the excuses are valid. But they don’t change the end result. Stop focusing on explanations for why you came up short. The truth is, you’re wasting time. You’re wasting your own time, and you’re wasting the time of whomever you’re trying to ‘explain yourself’ to. Instead, change your mindset. How are you going to ensure this doesn’t happen again? What could you have done differently to prevent the shortfall? Yes, I said YOU. Maybe it wasn’t entirely your fault, but you were responsible for the result. Own it.
You’re either going to make excuses, or you are going to deliver. Period.
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