One of the things that drives me bat-shit crazy is excuses. I am not talking about small roadblocks that can be overcome, but pure ignorance that ends up adding hours to my workday and a few more gray hairs to my head.
This morning, I was sitting in my office and the owner of a company I am consulting with walks in. We are trying to implement this new software that basically drives personalized traffic to a website, through a printed brochure or postcard (It really is a whole lot more complicated than that..). He keeps telling me he doesn’t understand and he needs sales material so he can go out and sell it. So I did the powerpoint presentations and some real pretty graphs and explained it all to him. But he is still pissed at the world because he hasn’t made any money from his investment yet!
The bottom line is he needs to sit down for 2 minutes and UNDERSTAND what this software does. It isn’t about stringing a line of BS long enough that a customer writes a check. It’s about learning and adapting and growing. The thing is, for him, it’s easier to blame everyone else and make excuses than it is to take a minute and learn something new.
My challenge to all of us for the day (including myself) is to stop readily handing out excuses. Instead, why don’t we try to solve the problems before someone asks, and then follow through with those solutions to get the job done…