The Impact of Making Excuses on Motivation

I am going to tell you about James, an 11-year-old boy with a big, difficult dream of finishing high school.

Note: This article is based on a blog post by Tyler Tervooren, in which he tells us that making excuses has a negative effect on motivation.

James lived in war-torn rural Uganda, had lost every member of his family to a fatal illness when he was six and was raised by his grandmother, who could not afford to pay for his tuition.

James was not destined to earn a high school diploma, so it is hard to blame him if he gave up on his goals and decided to work in the fields instead. However , he and his grandmother devised a long-term strategy to raise money for his education.

It all started with a goat, as his grandmother sold one of their goats, after which James bought shoes, clothes, and a bus ticket to the capital and stayed there with his aunt. James was sneaking into the President's compound and asking for a scholarship, and it required climbing a barbed-wire fence and avoiding armed guards, but he thought that once inside, he would be warmly welcomed and given money for tuition.

So he did that, much to everyone's surprise, and now James is in his thirties, has two master's degrees, and is an excellent leader.

It would have been far too simple for him to give up and make excuses, and no one would have held him accountable. There were significant barriers between James at age 11 and James at age 30, but something inside of him compelled him to take control of his life and do whatever it took to accomplish his goal.

There is a connection between the justifications you offer and your level of success, no matter who you are or where you are in life. You must learn to be like James if you have lofty goals but also foresee that you will encounter significant challenges in the future. James demonstrated exceptional insight into his psyche and tenacity in pursuing his dream at age 11. I think his tale is a heroic one.

Excuses increase failure

We have all been disappointed in some way, whether at work, school, or even in relationships. When that happens, you have two options for how to react: you either ask yourself, "What could I have done differently?" or you tell yourself, "This wasn't my fault, and I could not have done anything else." If you choose the latter, you are doomed to failure.

According to a study published in The Journal of Psychology, making false excuses about avoiding school work is directly linked to lower academic grades; the more excuses you make, the worse you perform. However, not enough research has been done to determine why this is the case.

An excuse is a way to justify failure by placing the blame elsewhere. We all did it at some point in our lives, and we know why we do it; it makes us feel better. On the other hand, failure makes you feel like some of your life's results are beyond your control. When you lose control, finding the motivation to work harder is challenging, so why care about something if you are not responsible?

When you lose motivation, your performance worsens , and you risk failure in the future as well; Of course, this is just one path, and you can undoubtedly take another.

Personal responsibility leads success

Some people are loyal to everything in their lives, and if they face obstacles in the thing they seek to achieve, they never give up, instead, they continue despite everything. The hard times do not last, but the strong people are the ones who do. For example, when a person is famous, successful and does not care about the obstacles they face, people try to take every opportunity to help them persevere.

This is consistent with what the researchers of the University of Missouri–Columbia discovered when they studied the connection between future commitment—the resolve to accomplish something—and making excuses.

They tested the excuses that study participants might - or might not - make while completing tasks and how this fits with their determination to improve; Unsurprisingly, those who made few excuses were the most committed to improving themselves.

Although some people are not to blame for any of the difficulties they face, some do not see things that way, which is why those who accept responsibility for their circumstances—whether or not they are at fault—end up better off once things have calmed down.

Making excuses encourages you to place the blame for your mistakes on outside forces, whereas accepting responsibility encourages you to reflect and ask yourself, "What could I have done differently?" and "What can I do now to fix what happened?"

When you reflect on these questions, you realize you still have control over your future. When you are motivated to make the best of your situation, you work harder, smarter, and more effectively , and eventually, you achieve your goals.

How to stop making excuses?

Everybody aspires to excel at everything they do. Making real improvements is very difficult, but finding justifications is simple. So if you want to be the one to take responsibility and get what you want, it may be down to what you say to yourself when you fail or feel overwhelmed, such as:

1. If you are in poor physical condition, are you telling yourself that your genes are to blame? And that your bad eating habits are too strong to change? Or  are you telling yourself that you have not found the right solution yet, but you will keep looking and trying?
2. If you work a lot and have no time for fun, do you tell yourself that people are demanding ? Are you not prioritizing your time?
3. If you do not have enough money to live the life you want, do you tell yourself that you are not making enough money from your current job? Or  are you telling yourself that you are not expressing your worth enough or that it is time to find a better job?

There are two stories in each of these situations, one that you can control and one that you cannot. If you concentrate on the story you cannot control, you will fail, but if you concentrate on the story you can control, you will succeed.

So take some time to consider the stories you tell yourself, the justifications you give for your actions, and how you can alter your stories to improve your chances of success.

Conclusion

Making excuses for adversities destroys your motivation and ability to recover from them, so take responsibility for failure, even if it is not your fault, to achieve long-term success.