Why Make Excuses?

I really dislike excuses, however, that doesn't mean I don't make them. Just the other day I made up a whole list of excuses as to why I needed to shorten my run mileage. I went home last weekend to visit my parents and got up Saturday morning to participate in a 5K at my Alma mater.

So the original plan was to complete the 3 miles of the race and then run 10 more on my own. I completed the 5K and started on the 10. About mile 3 is when the enormous list of excuses began to flood my mind. "Mandy you did a solid 6 straight weeks of climbing, 7 miles, 10 miles, 12 miles, 14 miles, 16 miles, 18 miles...you need a break. 8 Miles is good enough for today. Next week you'll do more." By mile 4 I already turned back, I had my mind made up and the excuses won me over.


"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else." (Benjamin Franklin)

Why does this happen? Why can we buy into the white lies our minds feed us? Why can't we always just stick to the original plan? Here's a short list of ways we can win against excuses:

1. Understand rationalization. Rationalization is the process of constructing a logical justification for a belief, decision, action or lack thereof that was originally arrived at through a different mental process. It is a defense mechanism in which unacceptable behaviors or feelings are explained in a rational or logical manner; this avoids the true explanation of the behavior or feeling in question. (Wikipedia) I think rationalization can be very dangerous as we might not realize we are doing it.

2. Examine your progress. Look at where you are at from where you have been and where you want to be.

3. When you make a mistake take time to learn from it. Don't repeat it but accept responsibility from the mistake. (although I don't ever believe mistakes are really mistakes, rather stepping stones to get us where we want to go by process of elimination)

4. Come to the realization that your successes or failures depend on you. The choices and attitude you have play a huge role in winning and losing.

Now I understand that from time to time excuses will happen. It's just the way life works out. This post doesn't apply to the random here and there excuse, rather the chronic excuses that stop us from getting what we want.


"Sometimes what we don't want to see is exactly what we need to see."(Mandy Froehlich)