The Grasshopper had this to say today: “People will only remember the event, not the reasons.”

We humans have become reasoning machines. Translate “reasoning” into “excuse making” and you’ll grasp the underlying meaning of the Grasshopper’s message.

If you have disappointed someone by not doing what you said you would do, they’re not going to remember the well crafted reasons you offered as explanation. They’ll only remember that you didn’t come through. If you repeat this behavior often enough, you’ll earn the label of being “All talk and no action,” or as they say in Texas, “All hat and no cattle.”

The boiled down message is this: Stop making excuses! Hardly anyone believes them and they act as an impediment to taking action.

My friend Terry used to teach a sales training method, the opening line of which was this question to the prospective customer: “How could you be happier?” Once the client answered with their criteria of how they could be happier, he would ask, “How come that’s not happening now?”

That’s when all the excuses would come pouring out. They amounted to, “the reason I’m not happy is because of blah, blah, blah.”

Whenever I address this topic, I always think of my fourth grade teacher Miss Wagner who drilled into us, “you can have what you want or your reasons why not.”

It takes more time to come up with an excuse than it does to take some action towards your your goal. We get in the habit of diverting ourselves into to crafting some flowery prose instead of getting the grindstone closer to our nose.

As the Grasshopper reminded us many seasons ago, “Find your excuse and you’ll find your problem.”

If you truly want to find your way forward, give up the things that are holding you back: Your explanations.

Final thought: When you stop talking, you’ll have more time to take action, and excuses will no longer be your “go to” reaction.

All The best,

John

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