High achievers are intensely results oriented.

The world is filled with non-achievers who believe that intentions are more important than results.

For knuckleheads, effort is the same as accomplishment. Knuckleheads put in countless hours on the job, struggling to keep up with their hectic schedules, and speaking in breathless frustration about how unappreciated their efforts seem to be.

However, if you ask them to name one significant goal they have achieved in the last day, week or even month, many would be hard-pressed to come up with anything of significance.

Knuckleheads speak about how hard they work and offer countless examples of their own good intentions, but when measuring results, most of these people have nothing to show for their efforts. Even worse, they don’t really understand why results even matter.

The fact is high achievers are intensely results oriented.

You can't excuse yourself out of a pickle that you behaved yourself into.

Mark Twain once wrote that, “There are a thousand excuses for every failure but never a good reason.” Knuckleheads have developed an unequaled gift for making excuses and thus murdering their own potential.

If you experiment with excuses, lies and exaggerations, it is probably because you find the truth inadequate.

The tragedy of the average knucklehead is that they have become dependent on the deception, false belief, and unfortunately ease of use associated with making excuses.

I know of no enemy more insidious or vicious than excuses. It’s an enemy that poses a clear and present danger to your future.

Excuses are to a knucklehead, what spin is to a politician – a clever yet lame way to pass away bad news or some undesirable reality. The truth is, no one is buying and we all know you’re full of beans.

You can’t excuse yourself out of a pickle that you behaved yourself into. Don’t lie or BS people with some sorry excuse for why you didn’t deliver the intended results. Trust me, they see right through it, which makes you look like an even bigger knucklehead.

Excuses are personality defects; the dirty ring around the collar of your performance, which carry the distinct whiff of mediocrity.

Few things make a knucklehead more uncomfortable than being confronted with the reality of their own sorry excuses. The excuse of using excuses is a behaviorally transmitted disease that inhibits the inherent potential of anyone that comes in contact with them.

So why do knuckleheads become such easy prey for an excuse when bringing home the bacon was what was expected of them?

Why do they continue to rely on such lame rational, which undermines their potential and destroys their reputation?

Why do they continue to dine on this junk food of behavior?

Why? Because they’re knuckleheads! That’s why!

Knuckleheads flip the bird to their own potential when they offer up an excuse, and it’s a bloody shame as far too many people demonstrate this reckless behavior pattern.

The tipping point of success resides on the other side of excuses – responsibility!

A cluttered desk piled with scribbled notes screams knucklehead.

The perceived cost associated with getting organized is a favorite excuse of most people.

This goes back to the premise that being disorganized must be someone or something else’s fault – that there must be a barrier to entry that keeps you in this state.

There is a tremendous opportunity cost associated with remaining disorganized as every misplaced message or task left unaccomplished has a cost.

Sometimes the cost can be diminished reputation, loss of opportunity, and even financial pain.  A lot of unfortunate, negative perceptions are created by the appearance of disorganization.

By not taking control of this issue, you become known as someone who doesn’t return phone calls, someone who is consistently late to meetings, and someone whom you can’t trust.

These perceptions, actually these realities will in fact tarnish your business and personal relationships.

The cleanliness of your space speaks volumes to your co-workers and clients. A cluttered desk piled with scribbled notes screams knucklehead.

How can a client entrust you with his or her business if you can’t be trusted to handle the items currently on your desk?

And how can your boss, or co-worker rely on you if you have proven yourself unreliable in other, seemingly innocuous situations?

The answer is simple: They can’t!

Excuses are a dramatic, ongoing theme for Knuckleheads.

One thing you can count on from far too many people is their consistency in being late for just about any meeting. They are an equal opportunity offender and THIEF of others time, and patience.

These knuckleheads are not the sharpest knives in the drawer; they waltz in late, apologize profusely and insist that this incident was highly unusual.

They are never, ever late they say. The victim of their excuse finds the knucklehead amusing because experience has shown them to be late for everything.

Let’s cut to the quick on this issue. Being chronically late is irresponsible, unprofessional, and is a significant factor in annoying those that have been on time.

Knuckleheads would never admit this but they are getting some kind of demented jolly by getting other’s attention when they walk in the room – late of course.

This demented behavior reinforces a sense of inadequacy that the Knucklehead feels about themselves and this is their creative way of demonstrating their incompetence to the world.

Excuses are a dramatic, ongoing theme for Knuckleheads. They consistently over schedule, become flustered when they fall behind, and continue to insist that they are never late. A rendezvous with reality is the only hope for change!