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The Excuse Peddlers
Have you noticed that we have an endless capacity for producing excuses?
Some we believe in, and will fight for, others we know are just excuses.
After a while using excuses can become our way of life.
Here are some of our favorites.
1. It will take too long
We live in an age of instant gratification. Everything has to be now. There are some things that just take longer.
When I decided to go to university at age thirty-six, I did not like the idea of how long it would take me to get a degree. I
suppose I was being reminded of how old I would be by the time I finished. I had to remind myself that I would get older,
with or without a degree. So I chose to be older with a degree.
We must learn that it is rare to sow and reap in the same season. Time is required for all things. We may say we do not have
the time and yet we always find time for the things we really want to do. Now is the time to act, it is neither too early nor too late.
To build a successful business takes time to put in a strong foundation. You cannot build from the top down. As a young
insurance salesperson I could not work out how all the older guys got all the business while I was struggling to make a sale.
Some twenty-five years later I was one of the older guys and I was making all the sales while the younger guys were finding it
difficult.
It takes years to develop any successful business. It is possible but unlikely that you will skyrocket to the top in an instant. If
you see someone standing on Mount Everest one thing is for sure, they did not fall there, it was a long, hard climb to the top.
It took Edmund Hillary seven weeks to climb from the base camp to the top and only three days to come back down. There
has to be a message in this. Even the gifted have to work hard. That is why Zig Zigglar once said, “There is plenty of room at
the top”. Time is the price to be paid for achieving anything of substance.
In 1828, Noah Webster published “An American Dictionary of the English Language” in order to research the origins of his
own nation’s tongue. He learned twenty-six languages, including Anglo-Saxon and Sanskrit. This dictionary contained seventy
thousand entries and took Webster thirty-six years to compile.
Edward Gibbon worked twenty years on his authoritative book “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”.
Goethe’s most complex and profound work “Faust” was written over sixty years, Goethe was eighty when he completed this
work.
George Bancroft spent twenty-six years of his life writing his monumental work ‘History of the United States’. Upon completion,
it became a benchmark for American history and has been translated into a number of languages. His pen has created a
monument to his ability to endure and finish.
When an author told the poet Wordsworth she had spent six hours on a poem he replied, “I would have spent six weeks.”
2. What will people think?
If you allow your actions to be determined by what others may say or think, you will never do what you want to in life.
Aesop in one of his fables tells the story of the man, the boy, and the donkey. A man and his son were going with their donkey
to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a donkey for but to
ride upon?”
So the man put the boy on the donkey and they went on their way. Soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See
that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides”. So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself.
But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy man to let his poor
little son trudge along”. So he lifted his boy up on the donkey with him. Coming to the town, the people began to jeer and point
at them. The man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: ”Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for
overloading that poor donkey with you and your son?”
The man and boy got off and decided to solve the problem by cutting down a pole, and tying the donkey’s feet to it. They then
raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders.
They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet
loose, caused the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge, and drowned.
You will never please everybody so do not worry about what other people think, no matter how well meaning they may be.
Many will try to talk you out of doing those things that you want to achieve. We call them ‘The Dream Busters’. Mark Twain said
of them:
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that
you, too, can become great.”
There was a fisherman who never put a lid on his basket of lobsters. When asked was he not afraid of them climbing over the
edge and getting away, he said, “Heck no, the moment one makes a bid for freedom all of the others drag him back in”.
The lobsters in our life are in the form of parents, children, relatives, friends, work associates, those in authority, etc. who will
attempt to discourage you from your ambitions. In most cases they are well meaning and have your interest at heart. They do
not want you to fail, to be disappointed, and to lose what you have. If you are swayed by the way they see life you will finish
back in the basket with them.
Christopher Columbus was thought of as mad, but he ignored all as he lived his dream and sailed to discover the new world.
Galileo, one the world’s greatest astronomers, was persecuted for what he believed. He was labelled a heretic and his
writings were banned, but he continued to write until he went blind.
3. I could lose everything
You will not lose everything. You could lose all of your money but that is not everything. You will get something far more
valuable in its place. It is called experience.
To understand this may be difficult unless you have lived through it. A different kind of thinking is required. Losing is a part of
winning, by losing you gain.
Most people do not like the heat so they stay out of the kitchen and never get to feast on the delicacies of what the kitchen
produces. It is the fear factor.
Many successful people lose all and start again. Walt Disney is a well-known example. Early in his career he went bankrupt
and lost everything, then went on to become one of the world’s greatest film makers. Winston Churchill said, “Courage is the
capacity to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
4. It is too risky
Whatever we do in life there is always a risk, but as we grow the risk diminishes.
In 1952 Sir Edmund Hillary attempted to climb one of the most dangerous mountains in the world, a mountain that had
claimed many lives. He was not successful.
A few weeks later an organization in England asked him to address its members.
Hillary walked on stage to a thunderous applause. The audience was recognizing an attempt at greatness, but Edmund
Hillary saw himself as a failure. He moved away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the platform. He clenched
his fist and pointed at a picture of the mountain.
He said in a loud voice, “Mount Everest, you defeated me this time, but I’ll be back. You won’t grow any bigger but I will!”
On May 29, 1953 Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb the twenty-nine thousand feet high Mount Everest. You have to be
courageous to do the things that appear to be dangerous. I said courageous, not stupid. Opportunities often masquerade as
risks.
Growth is when you can say, “I ain’t what I ought to be; and I ain’t what I’m going to be; but I ain’t what I was.”
5. It is too difficult
Yes, some things are difficult. This is stating the obvious but it does not mean you cannot overcome them and when you do
what have you become?
Have you ever noticed that the moment you decide to do something of value you meet with opposition from known or unknown
sources. It is as if all hell breaks loose. Like rattling the bars on the lion’s cage.
You must expect opposition in all things. It is by overcoming this opposition that you gain the strength to propel yourself to the
next level. It is to be found in the arena of growth and the battlefield of achievement. Understanding this principle is important
but it is still hard work to beat the opposition.
In making this point: Abraham Lincoln had to deal with abject poverty, but he never used it as an excuse to stop him in
becoming who he was to be.
The British Prime Minister Disraeli was of Jewish decent. Because of this he was burdened with bitter racial prejudice. He
never allowed this to distract him from his duties.
John Bunyan was imprisoned for illegal preaching. From inside the cold and dingy prison he wrote ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ which
was published in 1678. This book has been republished many times, and has been translated into more than seventy
languages.
6. I am too old
Do not let age be a barrier. Now is the time to do those things you have always wanted to do, the things you were unable to do
while you were raising a family.
Some older people may think that their chance has passed. Modern medicine has increased life expectancy. Many people are
going to be around a lot longer than might have been expected. It is never too late for you to do something worthwhile. There
are many people who have achieved their life’s ambition at a mature age. To list a few:
Immanuel Kant was seventy-four when he wrote his finest philosophical work and is one of the most influential philosophers
in the history of western philosophy.
At the age of sixty-seven Verdi composed ‘Aida’ to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1887, at the age of seventy-
three, he had success with ‘Othello’. Verdi was eighty when he produced the operatic comedy ‘Falstaff’, and eighty-four when
he produced ‘Ave Maria’.
Tennyson was eighty when he wrote, ‘Crossing the Bar’.
Michelangelo became chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica in his seventies, possibly his crowning achievement. Still perfectly
lucid, in his late eighties, Michelangelo created some of his greatest work.
Titian has been regarded as one of the great painters of all times. At ninety-eight, he painted the historic picture, ‘The Battle of
Lepanto’.
Justice Holmes was ninety when he was still writing brilliant opinions.
It is only the body that ages, the spirit is forever young. Do not let an old body dictate to a young spirit how life is going to be
lived. ‘Carpe diem’ – seize the day.
7. I am too young
Some people use the excuse of being too young. They feel they have plenty of time in the future to do something of substance.
They want to wait until they get older, as if success is only granted to the mature.
Do it now. Do not wait. Youth is one of the magical times of your life. The world is waiting for you. Decide while you are young
that your life will make a difference to this world. Many of the world’s greatest achievers never reached forty years of age.
Let me name a few:
Jesus Christ was only thirty when he began his transcendent mission, which lasted only three years but influenced the whole
world.
Alfred Tennyson wrote his first volume at eighteen while a student at Cambridge.
Alexander the Great had conquered the world by the age of twenty-six years.
Napoleon Bonaparte had conquered Italy at twenty-five.
Edgar Allan Poe died at forty after writing his name among the world’s immortals.
Victor Hugo wrote a tragedy at fifteen and completed ‘Cromwell’ by the age of twenty-five.
Isaac Newton made some of his greatest discoveries before he was twenty-five. At twenty-four he formulated the law of
gravitation.
Benjamin Franklin was twenty-four when he wrote ‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’.
Charles Dickens was twenty-four when he began his ‘Pickwick Papers’ and twenty-five when he wrote ‘Oliver Twist’.
Cyrus McCormack was only twenty-three when he invented the reaper.
Thomas Jefferson was thirty-three years old when he drafted the Declaration of Independence.
8. I am too sick
No one would doubt the debilitating effects that a sickness or disability has on achieving success but it does not necessarily
have to be used as an excuse for not doing what we can.
According to some people, sickness can be transcended. This is where one’s will or spirit dominates the body, by demanding
certain performance levels. The author Robert Louis Stephenson did this. He said:
“For fourteen years I have not had a day of real health. I have awakened sick and gone to bed weary. Yet I have done
my work unflinchingly. I have written in bed and out of bed, written in hemorrhages, written in sickness, written torn by
coughing, written when my head swam for weakness. And I have done all for so long that it seems to me I have won
my wager and recovered my glove. Yet the contest and the powers have willed that my battlefield shall be the dingy
inglorious one of the bed and medicine bottle.”
Cripple a man and you have a Sir Walter Scott, a writer, poet, storyteller, and master of dialog. At an early age he contracted
polio, which left him lame in the right leg. He never allowed this to impede his work and compensated for it with great physical
endurance. In his diary he wrote:
“The joints of my knees, especially the left, are so stiff and painful in rising and sitting down, that I can hardly help
screaming.”
His pain did not stop him from becoming one of the great historical novelists.
Take away her eyes and you produce a lady of vision. Helen Keller said:
They took away what should have been my eyes (But I remembered Milton’s Paradise). They took away what should
have been my ears, (Beethoven came and wiped away my tears). They took away what should have been my tongue,
(But I had talked with God when I was young). He would not let them take away my soul - Possessing that, I still
possess the whole.
Give a man a speech impediment and you produce an orator. In 384BC Demosthenes was born near Athens. He was
mocked as a child by other children because he was shy, ugly, sickly, and had a speech impediment. At a young age
Demosthenes started getting involved in law and politics. He was not very successful because of his occasional stuttering
and his inability to pronounce the letter ‘r’. Demosthenes practised speaking with pebbles in his mouth until he overcame his
impediment. He then went on to become Greece’s greatest orator.
Even the great Michelangelo paid the price of suffering for his divine gift. He said:
“I am here in great distress and with great physical strain. I have no friends of any kind, nor do I want them. I do not
have enough time to eat as much as I need; my joy and my sorrow/my repose are these discomforts.” …“ I am a poor
man and of little worth, who is labouring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as
possible.”
Nobody gets it easy. We all must push through our sickness, disability, and suffering.
Milton Erickson suffered polio as a child, and was one of those rare people who caught it twice. Nevertheless he achieved a
solo canoe trip all the long length of the Mississippi. He was perhaps the greatest psychotherapist of all time, and never let
his inability to walk get in the way of living a full life. All modern, effective brief therapy is derived from Erickson’s work.
9. It has never been done
This may be true but should we use that as an excuse for not doing it? Someone has to do it first. Why not you? Emerson
wrote what has become known as ‘The Entrepreneur’s Creed’:
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
You may say it will never work but how will you know if you never try? Think about Thomas Edison in this regard:
From 1878 to 1880 Edison and his associates tried at least three thousand ideas to develop an efficient incandescent lamp.
Because of his research he now knew three thousand ideas that did not work.
In trying to develop a filament that would not melt he recalled, “Before I got through, I tested no fewer than six thousand
vegetable growths, and ransacked the world for the most suitable filament material. The electric light has caused
experiments. After knowing what did not work he finally discovered what did work. Of this he said,
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
History is founded on the shoulders of those who had as their mottos ‘In spite of everything’. Why not become a maxer and
make this motto yours?
When excuses come into mind eliminate them by saying ‘In spite of everything’.
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The above is extracted from the book
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PREFACE of 7 Ways to Live Life to the Max
This book has been written to empower people to live with excitement and energy. Its principles are based on ancient and
modern wisdom from a variety of sources.
The author has had a difficult, but interesting and exciting life. He shares his personal experiences with his readers in the
hope that whatever years they have left, it will be the best years of their life. It is about living to the fullest, not just watching life
go by as a spectator or living through the experience of someone else. It was Helen Keller who said, “Life is either a daring
adventure or nothing.”
Life is a banquet table. Upon it we find every delicacy imaginable. The lamb, beef, venison, duck, chicken, turkey and pheasant
have been cooked to perfection in sauces that tempt the taste buds (unless you are a vegetarian). A cornucopia of vegetables,
pumpkin, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli are to be found in a state of perfection. Exotic seasonings, poppy, wild
marjoram, thyme, capers, and ginger enhance the flavor of the dishes. Fruits of every kind, the common and the uncommon,
even the exotic quince, currant, mango, durian and pomegranate grace the table for taste and decoration. For the wine
drinkers, there are reds and whites of every kind and vintage that would make Bacchus jealous.
We have all been summoned to attend the banquet of life. As special guests we arrive in anticipation and yet, instead of sitting
on the gold embossed chairs provided for our comfort, we elect to sit on the floor and eat the crumbs that fall from the banquet
table. Too many of us, for far too long, have sat on the floor eating the crumbs that fall. This book is about getting up off the
floor and feasting at the banquet table before it is too late. To waste a day would be to waste our inheritance.
The final words of this introduction are left to Henry David Thoreau, who said, “Oh God! To reach the point of death only to
realize you have never lived.”
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Here is more about the book
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The greatest gift you have been given is the freedom to make choices. Use this gift to its maximum. You have in front of you
the key to secret wisdom. If you use it, you will unlock the secret to having all your dreams come true.
7 Ways To Live Life To The Max is that key and it's just within your reach! Within the bytes and bits lies wisdom for the ages.
Not just a guide to happier living, it is a treasure chest of principles that will make your every wish come true.
Are you down in the dumps?
Do you suffer from depression?
Are you burnt out?
Looking for a new lease on life?
Are you lacking goals or direction?
Wondering what life is all about and what your role is?
This book has been written to empower people to live with excitement and energy. What are the 7 Ways To Live Life To The
Max?
Maxers Know the Big Picture While Not Ignoring The Small One
Maxers Live In The Real World
Maxers Live By A Code Of Ethics
Maxers Live Their Dreams By Conquering Their Fears
Maxers Are Lovers
Maxers Let Go To Hang On
Maxers Give And Know That Giving Is The Measure Of Greatness
You were not created to fail. You were created to win, to live a meaningful life, and to fulfil the measure of your creation.
Remember, the greatest gift you have been given is the freedom to make choices.
Use this gift to its maximum. Do not let it sit on the shelf and rust, or gather dust and become a museum piece. Do not give
anyone your Power of Attorney to make decisions and choices about your life.
Make the right choice now. . .don't wait. . .you deserve to "live life to the max"!
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The normal price for this book only is $17.00.
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Brought to you by Jacob Gan, PhD (Michigan)
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