Results or Excuses?

It took me some time, but I learnt before too late that excuses and results (at least the kind of life-changing results we all crave) are mutually exclusive. The inclination to justify our actions or inaction is a disease we all fight with varying degrees of success. After all if I don't stand up for me, who will? It means simply, therefore, that we must make up our minds whether we want to continue to blame everything and everyone around us or we want to take responsibility for changing our circumstances.

The fact is, we can only judge a tree by the fruits that it bears. The fruit it has the potential to bear and those it is expected to bear are of consequence only as they stand in condemnation of the number it actually produces. In other words, our value to the market place is dependent on the quality of our results. In the long run it is only that which we do - our actions - not what we intended, hoped, planned or wanted to do that counts.

But oh how easy it is, in the face of challenges, to justify our inactions. How often have we told our selves with some degree of satisfaction that we do not have the resources to complete the new project at work, not enough time for exercising or regular reading or inadequate skills for tackling a task you've been wanting to get done. I'm pretty sure that at one time or another you have caught yourself saying "as soon as the weather changes," and maybe you've even gone as far thinking 'when the kids are grown." Excuses have a way of postponing, or denying us of the results we seek one small justifiable reason at a time.

So what will it be, excuses or results? Legitimate reasons for under achievement or a deliberate effort to press forward in spite of our realities? The fact is, there will always be genuine excuses waiting in the wings. Our weight loss programme can easily get shoved into the corner because of our hair concerns. Competing priorities at home are always going to impact our ability to read a book or spend time with our spouses. It is what it is. But we need to come to the place where we draw a line in the sand and say, "what will it be? Am I committed to the results I seek or will I forever justify my inaction with excuses. That power to choose is available to all us. I guess in the long run it all comes down to the results we seek.