Mindconnection eNL, 2009-05-03

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One reason people are often helpless is they are in the habit of diverting brainpower into making excuses rather than focusing their minds on achieving results. And they typically do it without realizing it.

The boss says you made a mistake, so what's your reply? Most people will make an excuse, something they learned to do back when "the dog ate my homework" seemed like a great thing to say when you didn't do what you were supposed to.

But making an excuse to your boss shows fear instead of respect. And, of course, you aren't giving your boss reason to respect you or to really keep you on the payroll. Bosses don't get paid for excuses. They get paid for meeting production targets or other metrics. A company can't sell excuses to a customer. Have you seen excuses on sale at Wal-Mart, recently?

You can make excuses or you can get results. When you make excuses, you give someone or something else power to hold you down or hold you back. That something else is usually a negative internal message along the lines of "I don't deserve to succeed." That's preposterous. You absolutely do deserve to succeed. So don't make excuses. Figure out what stands in the way and overcome it.

Suppose your boss points out a mistake you made. Want to impress your boss? Say something like, "Thanks for pointing that out. Let me think about how to prevent a similar mistake in the future and get your opinion on the plan I come up with. Can I get back to you on that tomorrow?" Bosses are just blown away by this kind of confidence and integrity.

Bosses (and other people) are not impressed by excuses. Quick--can you name one great historical figure who made excuses? OK, maybe not so quick. Think harder. Hmm. Still stuck for an answer? Take all day tomorrow. Ask your friends. Come up with the name of someone you admire, even if that's not a famous person, who makes excuses.

Nobody's heard of Alexander the Almost Great. But we know what Edison said about the light bulb--there was a guy who just refused to make excuses!

Here are some word clues that excuse-making has taken over:

• But
• Can't
• Not my fault
• The economy....

If you're going to do something, approach the task with confidence that you deserve to succeed. I'm not advocating false confidence. For example, people who are confident yet poorly prepared have false confidence. What I'm advocating is that you not let the need to be prepared with an excuse for failure decide the outcome before you even get started.

Tax his bed,

Tax the table

At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,

tax his mule,

Teach him taxes

are the rule

Tax his cow,

Tax his goat,

Tax his pants,

Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,

Tax his shirt,

Tax his work,

Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,

Tax his drink,

Tax him if he

Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,

Tax his beers,

If he cries, then

Tax his tears.

Tax his car,

Tax his gas,

Find other ways

To tax his ass

Tax all he has

then let him know

that you won't be done

till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers,

Then tax him some more,

Tax him till

he's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,

Tax his grave,

Tax the sod in

Which he's laid.

Put these words

upon his tomb,

"Taxes drove me to my doom..."

When he's gone,

Do not relax,

Its time to apply

The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

CDL License Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel permit tax

Gasoline Tax

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax

Interest Expense Inventory tax

IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties
tax on top of tax--unless your name is Geithner or Rangel)

Liquor Tax

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property Tax

Real Estate Tax

Service charge taxes

Social Security Tax

Road usage taxes

Sales Tax

Recreational Vehicle Tax

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)

Telephone federal excise tax

Telephone federal universal service fee tax

Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes

Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax

Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax

Telephone state and local tax

Telephone usage charge tax

Utility Taxes

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft Registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago. Our nation was the most prosperous in the world, had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids......

What happened?

Federal spending on special interest groups, that's what. Demopublican members of CONgress are merely the (very well paid) employees of these groups. How else do you explain the burning of $21 million an hour on military acquisitions that don't actually acquire anything?

If you vote Demopublican, all you are doing is giving yourself a wage cut. You work more for less. Does that seem even remotely rational?

Read through that list of taxes, again. How can this possibly be good for your personal finances? It isn't. There is only one way to put an end to this madness. Vote against the bums who are doing this to us.

Privacy experts make this a cornerstone practice. It's pretty much a foundational step. When you read books by privacy experts and personal security experts, one of the themes repeated again and again is to not let your name and your address appear together anywhere. For many people, this isn't practical and for others it's just inconvenient. But if you are really wanting to protect yourself, consider doing it.

Another good security practice is don't put your phone number on personal checks. Have a Hotmail or Google e-mail account and use that instead.

And, of course, never fill out those credit card applications where you get a freebie just for filling it out and don't enter contests that require you to provide personal information. The reason for the application and the contest is quite often to build a list rental database.

And, they are sure they aren't eating too much. What could be the problem? Many years ago, a clear pattern emerged in the food diaries I had people keep. A food diary is just a simple tracking of everything that passes your lips. These folks were all sucking down loads of calories in liquid form. One woman was drinking an additional 3,500 calories a day in beer and soda--that's enough for a pound of fat a day. No wonder she was starving but getting fatter.

Here's a helpful article:

http://www.supplecity.com/articles/liquidcalories.htm

Watch not only what you eat, but also what you drink. Personally, I drink mostly water. Never any booze or sodas.

As regular readers know, I'm 48 years old in the picture (above, right), taken in December. I don't diet down for summer. I don't have good genes for maintaining a lean body, I really have to be conscientious and disciplined about it. That doesn't mean I suffer, eat bland foods, or starve myself.

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

Nor does it mean being hungry all the time (you are less hungry on six small meals a day than three large ones), being weak from hunger (on a proper dietary regimen, you will have much more energy than otherwise), or "giving up pleasures" (I have no idea where this concept comes from, unless a person considers being sick a "pleasure.").

I would make a remark about these shocking statistics, but I think you've already drawn the obvious conclusions.

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