No More Excuses

Living your life as a victim might bring you results, but the results are always negative.  For living as a victim is like living inside a hamster wheel:  you keep going around and around without getting anywhere. 

You don’t get anywhere because you never accept the source of the problem:  you.

You aren’t perfect.  No one is.  So you don’t have to live a life of perfection.  That means you are allowed to make mistakes.  You are allowed to fail.  You are allowed to be wrong.  It’s okay.

But if you constantly transfer the blame for your mistakes and failures to someone or something else, the only person you’re hurting is you.  You’re sabotaging your own success because you refuse to take advantage of the best and most effective way to learn—from your mistakes and failures!

If a baseball player, for example, watched strike three, should he blame the umpire for making a bad call?  Or the wind for blowing dirt in his eye?  Or the loud fan in the stands that distracted him?  Or the pitcher for throwing too hard?  Or the coach for not teaching him how to hit?  Or his teammates for putting to much pressure on him?

Or himself for not swinging the bat?

Maybe the umpire did make a bad call.  Maybe the wind did blow dirt in his eye.  Maybe the fan in the stands was obnoxious.  Maybe the pitcher did throw hard.  Maybe the coach didn’t teach him how to hit.  Maybe his teammates did put a lot of pressure on him.

Maybe all of those things happened all at the same time.

But the one fact of the situation remains true and constant:  the batter controlled whether or not he swung that bat.  He chose not to swing.  So he struck out.

Accepting any excuse other than his own inaction doesn’t help the player hit the ball next time.  All they do is shift the blame and weaken the player.

He only grows stronger when he accepts responsibility for not swinging the bat and changes his approach the next time he has the chance to hit.

So do yourself a favor.  Take responsibility for your life.