Accept No Excuse!

I often catch me lying to myself about a task or project I don't really want to work on.  This is dangerous, especially when some of my projects are of the "no excuses" sort. There are always times when you're not allowed to (or don't want to) say you couldn't get something done.  How can you think past these excuses, both for work- and home-related projects?

Think about some of these you may have heard or used:

"I didn’t have the resources to get that done."

• What resources did you need? More people, money, space, materials, etc?
• Did you try to get those resources?
• How do you go about getting the resources you need?
• How will you manage them?

"I didn’t have the time."

• This is a special case of "I didn't have the resources" and shows a problem with priorities.
• Figure out what your long- and short-term goals and strategies are, and that will tell you what your priorities should be.
• Where does your project need to be in one week, one month, one quarter, one year, or one decade? How do you get there?
• What does success look like? What does failure look like?
• Is any given task or subproject steering your toward success or away from failure?

"We’ll have to go through the approval process on this."

• Thats fine: even "no excuses" projects need to follow the rules. Just don't let this become a roadblock.
• Ensure that everyone working the approval process understands the priority. Monitor and follow up on every step if necessary.
• Keep in mind that the "tail shouldn't wag the dog."

"I didn’t know that was my responsibility."

• When I delegate a task, I work as if everyone forgets their tasks as soon as I pass them the request. They're responsible for the work, I'm responsible for it getting done.  So, I've made a point of scheduling reminder tasks when any task gets delegated.

"Because we didn't plan for that, something else screwed up."

• Plans fail.  Deadlines slip.  Processes fail.  There are always areas out of your control.
• What do you have in place to handle the unexpected?
• There are always risks and threats to your project.  What high risk areas can't tolerate failure, and what are your backup plans?
• "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." — Mike Tyson

"We were working on the project plans."

• Planning isn't the same as progress.  It is required and necessary, but it can easily become a goal in itself if you're not careful.
• Two perspectives on this:
• General Patton is quoted as saying: "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."
• "Five birds are sitting on a wire, and four plan to leave.  How many are left?"  Easy: five.

I encourage you to figure out what you want and figure out how to move toward it.  Be unstoppable!  Break legs! Steal candy! Do what it takes to get progress! (It should go without saying: be motivated, but do not actually do anything illegal, immoral, or unethical)

Having said that ... what other excuses or problems like this have you heard? What tricks do you use towork around them?