For many people high school is fun. I’m no exception.
I got decent grades, had great friends and have fond memories that I won’t soon forget.
But looking back now I see that I made one small mistake – I wasted my time.
I was a slacker. I knew it.
My Spanish teacher knew it.
My friends knew it.
Even my parents knew it.
Each morning I’d get to school early just to do homework.
I figured why bother spending time doing homework when I could spend my time doing the following:
- Watching TV
- Chatting on the phone
- Hanging out with my friends
- Playing video games
- Reading comics
- Listening to music
- Shopping
Some work I had no intention of doing so I’d sit in front of the school gates hoping I could catch someone who might be willing to let me copy their work.
It didn’t always work. As such there were times when I lied.
Little did I know that years later I would become a teacher myself and now as a coach and all those experiences would pay off.
I’ve been the lazy student, so I know what they say and do.
It gives me valuable insight into being able to relate to those clients who fail to maintain what it takes to achieve their goals.
So just what is the number one excuse I hear? We hear it every day, from everyone in our lives; friends, family, coworkers, students, and even kids – I’m busy.
About 4 years ago I clearly remember a 6-year old boy telling me that the reason he didn’t do his homework (which takes about 30min) was because “he was busy.”
He then proceeded to sit down and play his Nintendo DS for about 40 minutes.
You have to laugh at the irony.
I recently offered two high school students the opportunity to take a free seminar on how to improve their memory on a Sunday morning – both of which said the same thing.
They are too busy studying to do anything else.
It saddens me that we are taught at school that the only way to succeed is study harder – instead we should be studying smarter.
A speed reading course that takes a few days would cut hours upon hours off your study time.
A memory course that takes two hours would improve your retention of study material and greatly improve your test scores.
We often tell each other that we’re busy, it’s some sort of “get out of jail free card” that absolves you from responsibility.
There are times when we are THAT busy.
But it’s much less than we think.
We’re not busy in the way we think we are. We’re busy doing things that are fun and easy.
In many ways many of us are still doing the things on my list.
And there’s nothing wrong with that – we just need to stop using “I’m busy” as an excuse for our not achieving what we want out of life.
Each time I hear someone tell me they’re “busy” I can’t help but say to myself, “If I had a dime for every time someone said that I’d be a millionaire.”
I still fall prey to the “too busy” syndrome, but am trying to break this habit.
Personally in this day and age when everyone’s busy, I’d much rather hear someone just come clean with me and tell me why they didn’t do the work than hear an obvious lie.
It’s refreshingly honest.
So the next time you’re about to tell someone you were “too busy” – think twice.
You might just be better off telling the truth.
Adrian Shepherd