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What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

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Re: What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

#2

Post by berntb »

I can only speak for myself.

In the general case, I am a bit scared of being burned out again. So I make a point of relaxing, eating dinners with people and taking care of myself. This is fading.

In the particular case, I just moved to work in a cool new place (Cluj, Transylvania). I do work hard, but there is just too much fascinating stuff!

Re: What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

#3

Post by ekidd »

If the work would have mattered to you, you would have found a solution.

This is an easy thing to say, and perhaps for many people in many circumstances, it's true enough.

But I have no doubts about my work ethic—I've spent 50+ hours per week in the zone at a startup, until I hit my physical limits—and I can estimate project scope reliably enough to offer my consulting clients fixed bids.

But even so, I do occasionally have to e-mail a client and tell them that something will be delayed by a few days, or even a week. It's not that the work isn't important, but rather that when I push hard enough, there's no padding left, and a few days of illness (or caring for a sick kid) come directly out of work time. Similarly, sometimes there's a hard technical issue that nobody expected, and it takes some time to engineer around.

So for people already working near the top of their game, this manager's notebook and attitude comes over as so much motivational B.S. Professionals work hard. But if 90% of challenging projects come in on time, and the other 10% slip by a few days or a week, that's not necessarily evidence of moral failure.

Re: What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

#5

Post by nopassrecover »

There is a difference between a reason and an excuse. An excuse is an attempt to remove blame ("it's not my fault, the traffic was bad") whereas a reason is an explanation of the cause ("the traffic was bad"). The latter, isn't an attempt to remove blame, but to a) identify risk factors that can potentially be mitigated in future and b) to remove misunderstandings ("I bet he was late because he didn't care" or as in the article "If the work would have mattered to you, you would have found a solution.") by explaining the true factors that caused the issue.

Assuming people are maliciously trying to ruin your day, and flat out don't care, is a sign of poor thinking patterns and a precursor for mental illness.

Re: What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

#6

Post by kingofspain »

scrrr wrote: post #4

I understand school-kids have excuses, but if you're late you're late. It doesn't matter why. The small book of excuses is laughable. I'd rather not work for a guy like him.

If I can't come in at 9.15am, then I'm not staying a second past 5pm. In my experience, the places that are strictest on this kind of thing are the same ones that browbeat you on not being a team player when your hours are up. This kind of management practice is probably the biggest reason I went it alone.

Re: What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

#8

Post by BonoboBoner »

The older I get, the more I learn that in many cases in the past, 'having done everything I could' did not make a difference to 'doing the 80% solution' in the end.

Doing everything you can is a perception within you, your imagination of an ideal solution. This does not mean that this is always necessary to achieve a certain goal. There is always more to do, better things to achieve no matter how close to perfect you get.

Re: What is your excuse for not doing all you can?

#10

Post by bad_user »

nopassrecover wrote: post #5

There is a difference between a reason and an excuse. An excuse is an attempt to remove blame ("it's not my fault, the traffic was bad") whereas a reason is an explanation of the cause ("the traffic was bad"). The latter, isn't an attempt to remove blame, but to a) identify risk factors that can potentially be mitigated in future and b) to remove misunderstandings ("I bet he was late because he didn't care" or as in…

   The latter, isn't an attempt to remove blame
I actually have a different view.

Excuse: "I'm sorry, but the traffic was bad".

Reason: "The traffic was bad >"

    If the work would have mattered to you, 
    you would have found a solution
Over the years after getting my brain fucked for pennies and consistently treated as a resource that shouldn't question the powers that be, I get pretty cynical when I hear such words.
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