Don't Excuse Yourself

A Russian Jewish Engineer, Jakow Trachtenberg, was put in a concentration camp during World War II. There were several hardships – like backbreaking work, no access to medicine, and there was always the threat of death. During that period, he developed the Trachtenberg system of mathematics – a fast way to do arithmetic. Remember, he had no access to books, pen or paper. He created something in the worst conditions that a human being can be subject to.

Is there something that you want to create? A project that you want to complete? A task that you want to finish? If there is, what is stopping you?

Are those valid reasons, or are you giving excuses?

Everyday, we give excuses to avoid conflict, to get away from work, or to escape blame when dealing with others. There are some other excuses -such as – I can't study because the room is too dull.  I can't handle finances – you see my math is not good.  I've never been good at – fill in the activity of your choice – cooking, studies, science, planning, managing....the list goes on. All these excuses are not for others, they are for us!

Most of the time, the excuse that we give ourselves is “I don't have the time for it.” Is that really true? I know an author of 83 books, with a full time career. He found the time to take care of his children. At the busiest time in his life, he used to rock a cradle with his left hand while he wrote with his right. Today, his grandchildren remember him through his books, speeches, along with memories of talking and playing with him. I am one of those grandchildren. No one would have blamed him if he didn't spend time with his children, but he didn't give himself an excuse.

Most of the time, each excuse has an underlying reason.  

If you are addicted to something, it is because you want a distraction from your actual problems. If you are procrastinating, there is something you really dislike about the task that you are postponing. If you are spending too much time in planning without actually working on a project, you are afraid of failure. In short, if you are not doing something that you want to, it is because there is a mental block, somewhere. If you spot the underlying reasons behind your excuses, there is nothing that is stopping you from achieving your dreams.

In the words of the writer Charles Bukowski:

"if you’re going to create

you’re going to create whether you work

16 hours a day in a coal mine

or

you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children

while you’re on

welfare,

you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown

away,

you’re going to create blind

crippled

demented,

you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your

back while

the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,

flood and fire.

baby, air and light and time and space

have nothing to do with it

and don’t create anything

except maybe a longer life to find

new excuses

for."

Never excuse yourself, for there is really no excuse for not reaching your dreams.