photo credit: kenjonbro
I used to be the queen of making excuses.
I can’t lose weight because it’s too hard.
I can’t work there because I won’t get along with the people.
I shouldn’t have to apologize because she started it.
You should feel sorry for me because I was abused as a kid.
I didn’t like taking responsibility for my actions. Why would I want to? I’d have to take a look in the mirror and realize what a mess I really was. There was a time in my life that people couldn’t rely on me. They couldn’t trust I would be there when I said I would. Because I made poor decisions in certain areas of my life it was hard to build trust in other areas.
I’m still working today to rebuild trust completely.
I attended a networking meeting yesterday morning. In the room sat over 30 business professionals prepared to share the successes in their business, as well as how each person in the room could help him/or to grow. Each week in our meeting we stand and give the results of the previous meeting.
Did we have any referrals? Did those referrals turn into a sale?
As the gentleman next to me stood up, immediate excuses began to pour out as to why he wasn’t able to report his stats accurately. He didn’t have time. Something came up. You may be thinking, that’s not a big deal, so he didn’t have time to do some things. But the excuse was the same last week, the week before that, and the week before that.
As individuals within the group tried to help the gentleman with input on how implementing certain actions would make things easier for him, he didn’t receive the feedback well. As a matter of fact, before one person could finish, he had another excuse lined up. Not only that, but he felt the need to get his point across with some extra profanity.
Will I refer people to him for business? No.
Though he may be great at what he does, my first impression stated loud and clear that I couldn’t rely on him to go that far. If he made excuses for the simple things, would he make excuses for the bigger? I don’t want to take that risk.
As I have spent the last few years trying to earn the trust of others and build a reputation for doing what I say I will do, I have learned just how important integrity is, as well as sticking to the values you say you have. Walking the walk – not just talking the talk.
As each moment of following through with my words and actions go by, more people reach out to me with faith. I have proved, and am still doing so, that my values and integrity line up with my actions. I will never stop growing in that area.
None of us ever should.
Are you making excuses instead of following through?
Join the conversation. Have you experienced a similar situation as the example above? How did you deal with it? Comment below…
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