This is one of my pet peeves. I already hate excuses, but this one is the worst.  My high school basketball coach said it best: “Excuses are like a$$#*!#$; everyone’s got one and they all stink.”

I am sure you know plenty of people who use this excuse. I am sure you might have even let it slip from time to time. But let’s take a look at what is actually the problem here.

First, who isn’t busy? Everyone is busy and no matter how busy you are there is someone out there that is probably being twice as productive with even more responsibilities. We are all given the same amount of time, but we all use it differently.

Second, what do you think the person you are saying this to heard? In most cases an excuse is used to provide a reason for not doing something you were supposed to. For example, you told a colleague that you would look into a problem at work and get back to them right away. Then 2 hours go by and you still have not got back to them. The colleague comes in to ask what you found out. You tell them “I am sorry, I have just been so busy I have not gotten to it.” Have you heard this one before?

Here is what was actually said….. “I am sorry, but my time is just more important than yours, so when I tell you that I will do something that is important to you and I don’t do it, it is probably because my time is more precious and the things I am doing are more important.”

Now the people that have said this to you, or even the times you have said it, you probably believed you were too busy. You were not trying to be hurtful or mean. But that is how it is perceived. You might be able to get by one or two times, but if you make this excuse a consistent part of your reasoning you will find that people will develop a very poor perception of you. If you are a business owner that can be fatal to you and your company.

In my life and my business I like to find the heart of the problem. Often times little problems are results of a bigger problem that is actually often easier to deal with and fix. Here is the truth: You are just bad with time management and/or organization.

We all have seen that person that has so much on their plate yet seems to be on top of it all. We tell them “I just don’t know how you do it all.” Here is how they do it; through impeccable time management and organization. If you are a small business owner and have a lot of things to do, how can you find success when you are too busy making up excuses. You have to find a way to conquer the actual problem and not brush it off.

There are CEO’s and President’s of companies that have more on their plate then we could even imagine. Yet they pull it off day in and day out. The key to their success is a system. This is my focus at Gaddis Coaching: building systems to help you put your business, career, and personal life on auto pilot.

When we see that this reason is really just an excuse, and make up our minds to stop using it as a crutch, we will start to see our productivity and efficiency increase. This will also lead to better results in our business and personal lives as our clients, friends, and colleagues see that we do what we say and say what we do.

Re-read my last post Lying to Yourself. That post will build on what we talked about here.