Between Excuses And Efforts, What Defines You?
In every situation that occurs, life will generally present you with two choices: either to make excuses, which might actually be a very easy way out, or to put in efforts. While excuses may give you a temporary comfort, it may open you up for regrets in the long run. But putting in efforts may seem difficult at that moment, but it will definitely lead to growth, development, achievement, success, etc. So each time life presents two choices to you: excuses vs efforts, you have to look beyond momentarily pleasure and look at the long-term effects and consequences of each. This will help you to know the path to take.
I have come to understand that it is actually easy to come up with excuses. It is like a justification that you give to yourself to give you reasons not to take actions. The ironic part of it is that excuses may sound logical and even reasonable, and most times, will present as being truthful, but it will hold you back from taking steps and making advancements. Some of the reasons why people make excuses are because of fear, lack of understanding, laziness, lack of self confidence, or maybe the desire to find an easy way out or to remain in the comfort zone. You will hear excuses like; "the task was too difficult," "it was not my fault, I tried my best," "time was not enough," etc.
I remember a story that was told of a man whose barn was leaking while it rained. At first the leak was almost negligible as it was just tiny. As time went by, it got increased bit by bit. He told himself that he would fix the crack to stop the leaking. However, when it was not raining, he would not see a need to go check it out, and would not be able to locate the crack that he needs to fix. But when it starts raining, he would say that the rain is too much and he could not go out under the rain to look for cracks. Always giving excuses upon excuses. This kept happening until one day, the crack became too much and the barn fell in. It would have been avoided if he did not given excuses but took action and put efforts.
One of the things that people need to understand about excuses is that it is easily habitual because once you start to give excuses, you may become too reliant on them, and thereby convincing yourself that progress cannot be made. I once heard someone say that "success is for the privileged and lucky." I saw the excuses immediately, because he was already comfortable at where he is and he is trying to explain why he has not made advancements. Nothing limits one's advancements like excuses, and nothing also destroys one's ambition and opens them up for mediocrity like excuses.
If you must progress in life, then you have to put efforts even when it looks like the result you want has not been realized. One of the people in history, who normally inspires me, is Thomas Edison. He kept failing at the attempt in his invention. Instead of getting discouraged and give excuse that it simply cannot be done, he continued making efforts and kept trying. At the end, after a lot of failures, he finally achieved his goal. If he had given excuses at the first instance and stopped trying, he would not have achieved his goal. Even though, at that point, he might feel relieved after giving the excuses, but in the long run, he would discover that he excluded himself from something that would have propelled him to the limelight.
Making efforts may not be convenient and you may not even feel like it, but it is a vital requirement to achieve your goal. The more efforts you make, the better your skills will be and the more chances you have to achieve the result in the next attempt. I have come to discover that each time you put efforts when you should have given excuses, you are rewiring your brain to be more disciplined, determined, resilient, and persistent. Each time you feel the need to give excuses, just remind yourself that excuses will not make you to grow, but you need efforts and actions to grow.
Thanks for reading
