No Excuses

What’s the Latest Development?

Seth Godin shares that decades ago, when he used to sell by phone, he often found himself telling himself why he was unable to close that particular sale—while the phone was still ringing. He warns against our subconscious tendency to look around for excuse, deniability and someone to blame. “People who have a built-in all-purpose excuse (middle child syndrome, wrong astrology sign, some slight at the hands of the system long ago) often end up failing—they have an excuse ready to go.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Here’s Godin’s alternative to the excuse-driven life, one where you relentlessly avoid looking for excuses at all: “Instead of seeking excuses, the successful project is filled with people who are obsessed with avoiding excuses. If you relentlessly work to avoid opportunities to use your ability to blame, you may never actually need to blame anyone. If you’re not pulled over by the cop, no need to blame the speedometer, right?”