“A Coach Can Help You With Your Mistakes, But NOBODY Can Help You With Your Excuses.”

“A coach can help you with your mistakes, but NOBODY can help you with your excuses.” Buzz Williams, Virginia Tech

Buzz Williams is a basketball coach. He hits on a premise here that’s important.

If your verbal behavior and your thought process focus on someone other than yourself when trying to make progress or correct shortcomings, you are missing the boat.

Many people lead with excuses. The first story of sin in the Bible has Adam blaming the serpent, Eve and God for the situation he found himself in. It did not work out well.

Williams invites his players to take a strong personal assessment of themselves as the first step in process improvement.

What don’t I know?

What skill do I need?

What weakness do I have to correct?

How’s my attitude about this situation?

Who can offer me advice?

Have I done all I can do?

How much responsibility rests with me?

If you do a personal inventory like that, your list of personal opportunity will be lengthy. If you start on that list, your example will wipe out the other examples which were causing you stress.

The finger pointing and blaming delays progress. Start with you!