Do Excuses Negate Responsibility?

I have a million of them, no not dollars, but excuses, especially when it comes to why I think I can’t do something. Some excuses are lame, some are funny and they are so easy to make up. In some ways, they had become my truth. I believed them.

Lately, I’ve been listening to myself and others talk and I’m learning that one thing I don’t like about excuses is that they negate a try. I hear this a lot, “I can’t save money because I don’t have any money to save.” Under some circumstances this is true, but the possibility of saving may never happen if we have already excused ourselves from trying.

Rationaliza
tion is the process of trying to hide shameful conduct from ourselves.

I’m working on not using an excuse as a reason for not trying.  They do nothing but keep me from doing something.

Yesterday I woke up an hour later than usual and I was like darn, I’m going to be late! Immediately my body shut down and I started dragging my butt.  Then I said, well let me at least try to make it.  I had to reduce time spent on a few things, but I made it.  No, not everything is preventable, but some things are worth a try. I had a problem with tardiness, but since putting forth an effort, I have not been late once.

Excuses? Kind or Harmful. What do you think?  Also, do you prefer someone tell you they don’t want to do something or do you prefer the “flowery” excuse?

Chuck Gallozzi of Personal-Development.com suggested that we discover solutions instead of inventing excuses by planting this Garden of Success:

First, plant 3 rows of peas;

Patience
Positive thinking
Persistence

Next, plant 3 rows of squash;

Squash excuses
Squash blame
Squash criticism

Then, plant 3 rows of lettuce;

Let us be responsible
Let us be trustworthy
Let us be ambitious

Finish, with 3 rows of turnip;

Turn up when needed
Turn up with a smile
Turn up with confidence

CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome)

Several months ago I asked a group of people: Is the orderliness (of your home) or lack thereof, a reflection of your life. Most felt that it was ‘a personality trait’ and not necessarily a reflection of their life. They reasoned some people can be total slobs, but productive, while others can be meticulously neat and never get anything done.

Personally, I can’t function if things are not “in their place”, that’s just me. I don’t always like that about me, sometimes, I wish I didn’t care, but I do. I don’t like looking for stuff, I just rather put something where it belongs. That’s my only touch it once rule, I try not to create more work for myself later.

I did a little research about clutter and one website said that “clutter is more of a physical expression of our emotional condition than it is about our organizational skills.” It even went on to say that clutter is a manifestation of depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Do you think this is true? It’s all the same to me, cluttered and messy, it’s unkempt! Some people feel there are more important things in life than having a clean and tidy home and are okay with a mess.

I want to know how you feel when you walk into someone’s home, or even your own home, and it’s tore up from the floor up? Do you feel good? Who says neat is right?

Photo by Greyaenigma

Share and Share-alike

Wikipedia defines Share-alike as a descriptive term used in the Creative Commons project for copyright licenses which include certain copyleft provisions. You are allowed to copy, recast, transform, adapt, perform, record or translate a share-alike copyrighted work, however doing so creates a “derived work” on which share-alike copyright restrictions are automatically imposed.

Don’t leave, I have something to share! First I want to say I hate the internet. If I could sue it for a hostile work environment, I would! There is just so much stuff on the internet and I don’t know why I think I have to see it all. I don’t know, I was thinking about applying for a job at Internet.com or www.com until I found out these were actual companies and I was only kidding. I hate the world wide web.

I’m so off track, but this is what I wanted to share. This post is actually about passwords and how I keep up with mine. You know you need a password for most everything when you are surfing the web and many people pick one password for everything and use several variations of it. Of course, sometimes we forget which one we used for what site.

I started writing my passwords in a reporters pad that I keep…well I’m not telling you. Anywho, I have so many passwords in that little pad, that it’s hard to find the one that I need when I need it. I’m flipping through pages, turning it sideways and looking on the backs of the pages. Sure you can succumb to that disease where you can’t remember anything, the name escapes me right now, and click the “I forgot my password” link….but to which email address is that password linked? Problem! I have close to 20 email accounts….don’t ask and I won’t tell. (Reader: Where is she going with this?). See, hostile work environment, I’m frustrated because I don’t know.

Here’s what I came up with…. (Reader: Finally. This post is boring, but I’m still reading it for some reason, this better be good) oh wait…I used to type my passwords in a Word document, convert it to something I could read on my Pocket PC, but I stopped that because I carry that with me and could lose it and then I would be (__________)! Fill in the blank.

Reader: (Get on with it, will ya.) I decided, I’m typing slow because I want you to enjoy this. I d e c i d e d, okay, okay, I’m starting to bore myself. I decided to purchase an ADDRESS BOOK and write my passwords down according to the name of the web site. So when I go to Amazon.com and I can’t remember my password, under the letter A, I would write Amazon.com, password, user name and associated email address. Ta da. Applause!

Reader: (Mad, confused, mouth open. THAT’S IT!)

Yeah that’s it. That’s my bright idea.

Reader: (Moving mouse to click on the back arrow to leave)

Well for those of you who are still here, give it a try. If you have already been doing this how come you didn’t tell me about it? I spent 15 minutes coming up with this idea and another 30 minutes blogging about it. I could use this time to search the web and gather more passwords…..AND I will also need another 30 minutes to rewrite, in pencil, my passwords in my new phone/password book.

Next time you have a great time management idea, share and share alike, it might just save someone else the time and headache. If you can use this idea, make sure when you register for this blog (to have my lovely posts emailed to you) and it sends you a password, that you list me as: first name Valerie, last name Morrison.

Spring Cleaning

It’s that time of year again! Every so often I have to clean out everything, (I even deleted my old blog) drawers, closets, cabinets and get rid of stuff I haven’t used or worn or simply don’t need. All the clothes I’ve been meaning to take the the dry cleaner are going this morning.
This, of course, happens over a period of time. Last night I went to the all night laundromat. It’s open 24 hours 7 days a week. When the laundromat first opened, I said who needs a night laundromat? Turns out, I did. I didn’t get there until a little after 9 p.m. and the place was packed! A plethora of loud and a few unruly kids with iPods, playing video games, watching t.v. They thought they were at the hang out spot for underage kids.

So with the clothes all washed, I’m moving on to my closets and then cabinets and storage spaces. I enjoy cleaning and keeping things organized, it’s like a breath of fresh air.

Recommended Reading:

It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff
Organizing from the Inside Out
The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple