A convenient excuse can keep you from doing a lot of things you don’t like but it can also be responsible for a lot of lost productivity. While convenient excuses buy you time, they don’t produce solutions.
Here are some examples:
- You use your workload as a way to avoid doing something painful. “I really want to talk to you about my budget projections but right now I’m swamped as one of my employees is out sick.”
- You use your young child as an excuse not to do something. “We’d love to visit you but the baby has to stay on her schedule.”
- These can also prevent self improvement. “I know I should be learning about social media but something always comes up that keeps me from doing it.”
In many cases, these excuses feature a level of truth but the problem is that things in our world rarely stay the same. That change can be painful:
- Sick employees will return and the need to create a budget will only increase.
- The baby will eventually grow up, meaning you’ll have to deal with your not wanting to visit someone. Simply saying another excuse may no longer put off a difficult conversation.
- Every day you delay learning something new could mean that you are that much further behind your competition.
A convenient excuse isn’t about delayed gratification. It’s about delayed pain. And in most cases, the pain you are trying to avoid becomes unavoidable.
The passage of time, usually makes the situation worse. For instance, General Motors has seen public opinion shift after it was revealed that leaders delayed taking action on a safety recall. I’m sure there were lots of convenient reasons why the problem was not announced.
What are things that you need to either do or address? What excuse allows you to put it off? Is it really an excuse that will serve you in the long run? Will it result in lost productivity?
If you take a while to answer these questions, then you may be well versed in the problem.
