There are probably more excuses for failure than the people who give them: No headline there. But what about excuses for success? Granted, every once in awhile you'll hear some brave (successful) soul say something along the lines of "I was just lucky to be in the right place when the market took off."
To me, such candor is certainly better than claiming to be a genius. Big kudos to those folks for their humility. But the "Aw, shucks," self-deprecation ignores two basic considerations:
- Someone had their surfboard in the water when the wave started to crest, and
- Didn't (completely) freak out when they realized that the wave was, in fact, a tsunami
What are your excuses for success? Persistence? Being plugged in to peripheral movement in your industry? Integrity? A spouse willing to take up the domestic slack while you bang on the keyboard into the wee hours? The aptitude to learn from mistakes before they do irreversible damage?
Whatever your excuse or excuses are, hang on to them. Not only are they a talisman against arrogance when you do conquer your mountain, they are part of the great story you will tell every time someone asks, "How did you do it?"
