E-couragment: Excuse Maker or Responsibility Taker?

“Excuses are deeply embedded thinking habits that are preventing you from being the person you want to be.” Wayne Dyer Writing a book is hard. Wait—writing a book is not difficult, completing a book is. For me, that’s especially true when it comes to the detailed editing necessary to produce a crisp, clean manuscript.  I’m not wired for such excruciating details. My mind prefers focusing on visionary ideas and possibilities. Creating the book was right up my alley. Painstakingly editing page after page is testing me. I’m out of my comfort zone. My writing coach, Jerome Daley, has been listening to my whining for weeks now. He’s heard all my complaining and excuses.

This experience has forced me to face the excuses the intent of which is to prevent my book from being published. Ultimately, the barrier I’m facing is me. I own these excuses. I may have learned them as a child, or perhaps I observed adults relying on them in my formative years. Yet, I can hear the voice of my business associate, Emily Howard, saying, “Rich, we’re all grown up now!” She’s right. It’s time to name my excuses and bid them farewell.

An excuse is an accepted belief that will impede you from accomplishing what you’re destined to accomplish. It’s a thinking habit preventing you from being the person you’re designed to be. Here’s a sample list of the excuses which are getting the most air time:

It’s the economy It’s my boss It’s too difficult. It’s too risky. I’m too busy. I’m too old. I’m too young.

I’m too clumsy. I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. I’m not good looking enough. I can’t afford it. I’m afraid. I don’t have time.

Any of these sound familiar? Engaging leaders move beyond the excuse mentality and self-defeating thinking patterns preventing them from living at the highest levels of success, happiness, and health. There are no excuses worth defending, even if they’ve always been part of your life. The joy of releasing them will resonate throughout your very being.

It’s not enough to banish soul crushing excuses from your life. The void they leave must be filled with a powerful and liberating principle—one embraced and practiced by engaging leaders: Take responsibility. Taking responsibility is a glorious way to fuel self growth and development. Deciding to take 100% responsibility for where you are in life will turn impenetrable road blocks into inconvenient detours. How can you face an obstacle and change from excuse making to responsibility taking? Try using this self-questioning process I apply personally and with my coaching clients:

• What is my role in this…? How am I contributing to this outcome?
• What needs to change in me?
• Where am I to grow?
• What insight am I to gain from these circumstances?

Moving from excuse maker to responsibility taker won’t eliminate challenges from your life. It will allow you to overcome and move forward instead of quitting and turning back.

Here’s my commitment. As soon as I finish writing this article, I’m returning to edit a few chapters of my book. I will not allow excuses to derail the book I’m responsible for creating. As an engaging leader, make the decision to stop being an excuse maker and choose the life of a responsibility taker.

Leave your comments: What excuses have you determined to overcome? As a result of this, what have you accomplished or learned?