No Excuses
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Introduction
Introduction
It’s probably a lot easier to find reasons to put off getting things done than it is to find a reason to actually accomplish something. Especially when it’s something new or something that we aren’t overly confident in our abilities to complete adiquetly. How can we master our excuses and control them instead of having our excuses control us?
Why do we create excuses?
Why do we create excuses?
We’re naturally social creatures and seek out acceptance from our perceived groups - and even from ourselves. We have not only external factors that we have to try to appeal to, but also to an internal audience that we have that sometimes seems like it’s a thousand eyes constantly watching us - which is probably strongest during adolescence and why we see young children and especially those going through puberty, making some of the wildest excuses for their actions, even when an excuse isn’t needed.
Think about the last time you missed a deadline. When I was a teacher, I taught high school English and, especially when we had a paper or presentation due, there were always going to be excuses as to why the paper wasn’t completed on time - and sometimes they were really good - really pulled at your heartstrings to try and get more time becasue they waited till the last minute. But there were also somethat were just dumb and lazy.
I distinctly rememeber two cases. The first was a pull at the hearstrings. This young woman came in to my desk, on the edge of tears and told me how her grandmother had just passed. She told me how she had been struggling for a while now and last night she finally died and went to Heaven. Obviously, being a human being and having some amount of compassion, I allowed her more time to finish her paper. Some things are just more importnat than writing a paper - as they should be - and time is limited, so you have to make choices. Time with her grandmother was far more important than writing a paper.
On the other hand, sometimes you get some really stupid excuses - like, my dog ate my paper.
Except when the dog actually eats your paper!
I had another student, a very good student, come in with his paper in a large, gallon sized zip lock bag with the remains of a paper in it.
Well, what are you suppose to do at that point except laugh at the irony of the dog actually eating a paper and the fact that they brough it in to show me.
And of course I had to share that with my classes throughout the day and we all had a good laugh at it.
But if you’re going to have an excuse, you really need to have a follow-through. And showing someone that your excuse is valid brings them onto your side. But sometimes your excuse comes back to bite you in the ass.
While a dog acutally eating a paper is funny, a grandmother passing isn’t. Even less funny is when you meet said grandmother several weeks later when you go out to dinner in the real world and see your student with her parents and grandparents and you say hello.
Yes, she lied about her grandmother dying in order cover up that she didn’t write her paper.
Why would she make up such an elaborate story to cover up that she didn’t write a paper?
Why would someone go to such extremes? Did they think that writing a paper for an English class was equally as importnat as the death of a close family member?
The secret about excuses that most never want to address is this: No One Care!
Seriously, no one really cares what the excuse is. No matter the situations, the excuse really doesn’t matter.
5 Reasons for Excuses
5 Reasons for Excuses