The Power of Excuses

Every single person on this planet has an amazing potential.

We are all born with some great talents that we hone and learn and master. Every city and community has amazing potential. Every place has its unique locations and culture that no other place can boast. So why on earth do so many people suffer through unhappy day after unhappy day? Why do so many people struggle to accomplish their goals or give up on their dreams? Why do cities suffer from so many problems that have plagued us for decades if we all know that we have the skills and talents to develop solutions to the problems?

One five letter word creates the greatest roadblock to any success in people or in places. Doubt. Yes, doubt. That feeling that creeps into your mind when rationally thinking about any idea or plan. Like some kind of inception working to dismantle your dreams, doubt comes bursting forth to tell you that that you can't do something. It is a feeling that if left unchecked, will begin to creep into your thoughts on a more regular basis and cause you to question every single idea that you have.

But doubt takes form in something far more sinister. Doubt morphs into something that is difficult for anyone to argue against. Doubt morphs into an excuse. Every person on the planet has had an excuse at one time or another, and every single excuse is a form of doubt that tells you why you can't do something. Let me give you an example:

Many people in this country have a desire to lose weight. They want to be thinner, stronger, or simply not be quite so plump waddling around the supermarket. While there are many reasons why a person may have become heavy, there is usually only one reason why they cannot lose the weight. Watch any episode of "The Biggest Loser" or talk to anyone who struggles with their weight and you will more than likely hear an excuse for why they can't do it. You will hear all kinds of things about not having time, not being able to afford healthy food, not being the athletic to exercise, or that its simply in their genes to be a big person. Really? In your genes?!? Last I checked generations before us somehow managed to have the same genes and not have the diet and health related problems that we do today.

No, the reason why people who struggle with their weight do so for so long is because they make an excuse. Has there ever been something you wish you had time to do? Do you wish you were good at a language or playing an instrument? Do you wish you had time to exercise more?

Well you do. Think about your day. For most people that day starts by getting up in the morning, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, maybe having a bite to eat, and dashing out the door to work. When the final whistle blows at the end of the day we all head home, grab a bite to eat, and settle in for evening activities. What the evening activities are are different for different people. The point of this, however, is not to discuss our routines, but simply to think about what our routines consist of. For a long time I used to tell myself that I didn't have time to squeeze in a run. Yet I knew the tv programming for the next two hours and when to change channels so as to avoid commericals. After the two hour tv spree I would generally mope about wishing I had something to do, probably log on to Facebook at least three times, and wait for something to happen.

And then one day, I realized that if I turned off the tv (watching reruns, I might add), and stopped spending so much time sitting around, I could find time to do a lot of things I've wanted to. I run almost every day, generally at least 5 miles. I have started to use the internet to look up things I'm interested in and learn more about opportunities, programs, or events that are coming up so as to plan my weekend around things I like to do. I do my best to hang out with a different friend several nights during the week so as to keep up with everyone and to have a good variety of conversation. I still get plenty of sleep and have found time to start cooking good meals on a regular basis. Its true, I have missed some tv episodes lately, but my point is, the time exists for me to do many of the things I want to do. If ever anyone tells you they don't have the time to do something fun or exciting, what they are actually doing is making an excuse. They may not want to hang out with you, they may not be that adventurous, or they may simply have nothing better to do than mope about better days to come. Lack of time, money, or effort is simply an excuse for us not wanting to put in the thought process for how to get around these roadblocks.

Cities and communities can be full of excuses too. While these aren't quite as cut and dry as individual excuses, the root cause is still the same. Detroit is full of excuses. We have heard them all about why it is in the mess that it is. We have heard why people left the city and why there were riots and why the crime was so bad. We've heard all the reasons why Detroit sucks and why it is a dead city with no hope for the future. In all honesty, its cliched and its old. Even the artists who are flocking to the abandoned buildings hoping to paint a picture of the broken American Dream are getting old. (We all know that the Michigan Central Railroad Building has no windows.) The difficulty is getting past these excuses that continue to haunt Detroit to make some real change happen.

Living in the world with the society we have, Detroit has a major hurdle to clear the old excuses of the past and march onward to the future. Slowly but surely, that change is coming. More new ideas are being put into place and people are starting to work with the problems at hand with solutions, rather than explanations of why the problems are there. Perhaps we have spent so much time analyzing the problem for how to best tackle it, that we forgot real people are being affected by these decisions to hear more of the facts every day.

Working in Admissions, I often hear excuses from students about why their grades are poor, why they can't get a copy of their transcripts, why they didn't apply sooner, and the like. But in every case, the rules are the rules. I tell the students what they need to do to gain admission, and if they don't like it, they'll have to find another school to tell their excuses to. Perhaps we can remember this and apply it to Detroit and our personal lives. Excuses are just in the way. Get rid of them and pursue the things you really want to happen. Envision the future and see if we can get there. Like an overweight celebrity, Detroit must work hard to fight the excuses, shed the pounds, and return to the limelight with a new kind of chip on its shoulder.

For you personally, think of something you want to do. Think of all the things standing in your way. Now figure out how to get past those. Soon enough, you'll be exactly where you want to be.