February 18th, 2022

Pick a Card

  • Thou shalt not kid thyself and thou shalt not make excuses.
  • Excuses are rat poison for results.
    • Babe Ruth was known for making excuses for his own mistakes.
    • His coach sat with him on the bench and told him there’s a difference between a reason and an excuse. Your team thinks you’re low on reasons and high on excuses. Excuses are a waste of mental energy.
    • Just like picking a card during a magic trick, if you’re going to make an excuse, any excuse will do.
    • If enough excuses pour out of your mouth, people will stop listening to everything else you say, too.
  • What’s the difference between a reason and an excuse?
    • A reason will contain rationale. It’s not given with the intention of saving oneself.
    • An excuse is put forward to defend something that was done that shouldn’t have been done or something that wasn’t done that should have been done. An excuse doesn’t erase the damage that was done.
    • The difference is awareness and accountability.
  • Sometimes the only way we can determine future behavior is past behavior.
  • Behavior like making excuses is a huge red flag.
  • Instead of making an excuse, it’s better to look someone in the eye and acknowledge their experience.
  • By taking responsibility, there’s hope for growth.
  • By giving an excuse, there is no hope for any different result.
  • We cannot be people with the highest of intentions who deliver the lowest of results.
  • We have to accept the reality that we have to do our own pushups.
  • Excuses are not personality defects. They are chosen behaviors that become visible character flaws.
  • Excuses are deceptions that end up deceiving their user.
  • The best way to tell the difference between a reason and an excuse is to examine the results.
  • On the surface, they share a similar strand of DNA, but what you do with them is what differentiates them. If it’s a reason, it will have a resulting action. An excuse will never be followed by positive behavior.
  • 3 major understandings of why you don’t want to make excuses:
    • Excuses are a distraction from the truth.
    • Excuses erode reputation.
    • Excuses are cancer for a team and will bring results to a screeching halt.
  • You can have excuses or you can have results, but you can’t have both.