Admit it.  We have all done it.  We have made excuses for not achieving something we set out to accomplish.  It’s easy to do, and if you do it once it can quickly become an unfortunate habit.

Why do we make excuses about our failures?  Perhaps we told others about our plans for achievement and we are now embarrassed to say we did absolutely nothing or fell short of our goals when asked about our progress.  Did we have to save face?  Should we be making excuses for our own procrastination, lack of commitment, or laziness?  How could this possibly help, and why do we lie to ourselves about it?  More often than not, once we start making excuses there is a pretty good chance we will never achieve what we started out to accomplish.

I’m sure we have all found ourselves asking these questions from time to time (whether we can admit it or not).  But if we want to be high achievers we must take responsibility for our failure and lack of progress regardless of how it happened.  Achievers are honest about failure.  They accept it and learn from it.  They do not let themselves off the hook with worthless excuses when they do not accomplish their goals.  Achievers are accountable.  Rather than attempting to justify why they did not get there, high achievers focus instead on what they are going to do to change the situation and get back on track.

Next time you set a goal and do not get there, save your excuses and hold yourself accountable.  If you do, you’ll join the other high achievers who are turning their failures into great success.