21st Century Academy

In the last post, we talked about how blame and excuses hold us back from creating wealth. In a future post, we’ll talk about the implications of looking to the past and dwelling on the reasons and excuses for our past failures and current positions. But first, let’s take a minute to clarify the difference between the two; because most certainly, even though there may be real reasons for your current state, there is a difference between a reason and an excuse.

Reason Versus Excuse

For this, we’ll go straight to the dictionary definition of a reason and an excuse:

• Reason: a: a statement offered in explanation or justification b: a rational ground or motive c: a sufficient ground of explanation or of logical defense ; especially : something (as a principle or law) that supports a conclusion or explains a fact
d: the thing that makes some fact intelligible : cause

• Excuse: a: something offered as justification or as grounds for being excused bplural : an expression of regret for failure to do something c: a note of explanation of an absence

There isn’t actually a lot of difference between these two words or definitions. The one difference that does stand out is the presence of the word “fact” in the definition of Reason. A reason has a basis in fact, whereas an excuse is simply a justification—one explanation for a current state of affairs, but not one that is necessarily based in fact.

Why Split Hairs?

This may sound like we’re splitting hairs, but there is an important difference here. The difference matters because when you excuse your action or past inactions, you justify your current state of affairs. When there is actual fact involved there may be real things to look towards to improve upon. This is where there is real potential for change. It is up to you to grab hold of that potential with both hands and make the most of it.

Now, all of this being said, there is only a limited usefulness in looking to past reasons before you start blocking your own path to success once again. That’s where we’ll pick up the next post, with more words of wisdom from Jamie McIntyre‘s millionaire mentor.

To Your Continued Success!
Sean Rasmussen
21st Century Academy
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 – 2009

Tags: 21st Century Academy, 21st Century Academy blog, blame, excuse, Jamie McIntyre, millionaire mentor, reason, Wealth

Tags: 21st Century Academy, 21st Century Academy blog, blame, excuse, Jamie McIntyre, millionaire mentor, reason, Wealth

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 5:04 am and is filed under Emotional Intelligence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.