“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
-George Washington-

In my opinion, almost every excuse is a bad one. “I was late because, I don’t have enough money because, that did not get done because, I did not meet my goal because.” We all make excuses all the time, it is human nature. It does not matter if we say it out loud to someone or quietly in our thoughts, each one is just as destructive. Take ownership of your mistakes. Instead of blurting out excuses start thinking of solutions. Start answering the why behind every situation. Why are you late? If you simply did not give yourself enough time in the morning, well that is an easy one, GIVE YOURSELF MORE TIME. Why don’t you have enough money? Chances are you are living above your means, if you want more money you are going to have to work more or find the right job to get you the money you need to match your lifestyle. Why did that not get done? Super easy fix, organize what you have to do each day. Make a check list if you have too. If you are not getting everything you want done, shorten that list, reorganize or multi task.

George Washington is right, don’t offer bad excuses, you are only hurting yourself. Instead offer solutions. Offer solutions to others, and allow others to do the same for you. The more we work together the more stuff we will accomplish. The more we make excuses the less we will accomplish and the slower we move forward.

Monitor the excuses you make throughout the day and set yourself up some mini goals to eliminate those excuses. I could list through some ideas but more often than not our excuses are a garden variety of the same idea. Take action to eliminate the common excuses and see how much farther your life will take you, see how much more you will learn.