There are few real accidents.
Published on October 08, 2011
There are few real accidents. We live in a world of blame. The economy is responsible for my BBQ not turning out well. I didn't catch the fish because the boat wasn't big enough. The girl never called back because my neighbor picked on me in grade two. I can't get ahead because of the thunderstorm. I hope the illustration of the ridiculous nature of the blame or excuses accentuates the point. The fourth leading cause of failure is excusitis. Taking responsibility for our current state of affairs needs to find a resurgence in society. An excuse blames away the lack of effort or the wrong choices. Taking responsibility allows for the blunt and honest conversation with ourselves that will bring about a course correction and investment of effort necessary to turn a failure into a win. I'm not sure how I came upon it but on an internet search today I landed on a youtube video of Zig Zigler. He is a very well known motivational speaker. The short video I happened upon had him talking to his audience about a book he had written and 40 pounds he had lost over the past several months. He told the audience he had dealt with this excess weight for a good many years. He said he finally had to admit that what he had been eating was his choice. He said, and I laughed, "I had to admit that I never accidentally ate anything". Funny stuff. The audience laughed. He laughed. I laughed and also realized how important this lesson was. If we were honest with ourselves we would be able to say that the absolute majority of mistakes we make were not by chance or unknown. We know eating pizza and chicken wings won't leave us with a six pack. We know not calling our clients won't grow our business. We know associating with negative people will make us negative. We know sitting up watching mindless TV until 1am will leave us tired the next day. The harsh reality is that the absolute majority of blame can be found in the mirror. Here's how to start to turn this around. Repeat after me. There are few real accidents. Have an excellent day.
