Do You Ride the Excuse Caboose?

“Well, excuuuuussse MEEE!”

That was Steve Martin’s famous punchline from one of his great, wacky 1970s comedy routines. Of course, its less comedic version, a simple everyday “excuse me,” is also what people often say when they sneeze. Or burp. Or… well, you get the idea. Which sometimes prompted this witty rejoinder that I recall from my youth: “There’s no excuse for ya.” Oh, that was a good one.

But, really, the fact of the matter is, there is no excuse for you. Let me explain.

I came across a post on Copyblogger that provides some inspirational examples of famous success stories whose ultimate success was anything but pre-ordained. Or at least I’m sure it must have seemed that way to the individuals in question at one point in time.

And even though they could have used any of a number of excuses to throw in the towel, they stayed true to their path. They didn’t hop on the excuse caboose. They didn’t let failure or rejection or daunting circumstances derail their dreams.

Some examples from the copyblogger article:

Walt Disney was a failed, bankrupt, small-time ad man before that whole mouse thing happened.

J.K. Rowling was on the dole. Her first Harry Potter book was rejected by twelve publishers. It was eventually purchased by the relatively small Bloomsbury in London, and that only because the CEO’s daughter begged him to print it.

Leo Tolstoy wrote “War and Peace” while living in a small house with his wife and 13 children.

e.e. cumming’s first book of poetry was rejected by fifteen publishers. He self-published it, dedicated it to the fifteen rejectors, and became one of America’s greatest poets.

Abraham Lincoln lost multiple jobs, went bankrupt, and failed in numerous bids for public office before being sworn in as the 16th President of the United States.

As I mentioned in my comments on the copyblogger site, I might also add to that list none other than The Beatles. They were turned down by every major record label in the UK before George Martin took a chance on them for his Parlophone label, an off-shoot of EMI that specialized in comedy and classical records.

It’s always inspiring to learn of these success stories who persevered through failure and rejection.

From my own experience, having interviewed many musicians and read many biographies, it’s always struck me that the ones who succeed are often not always the most talented or the most creative (though those things are part of the equation) but the ones who simply wanted it the most, who never gave up in the face of adversity, rejection and nay-sayers, and who worked their asses off to achieve their goals.

As always, it’s impossible to overstate the value of persistence and faith in one’s self.

So what about you? Is there something you want to accomplish, but you’re forever finding excuses to put it off?

Me, I’m a world-class procrastinator. My motto is “Why put off till tomorrow what you can postpone indefinitely!” In fact, I’ve been awarded a medal by the International Procrastinators’ Association. I’ll pop down to the post office and pick it up…when I get around to it.

Yes, sometimes we’re just too tired. We can’t find the time. We can’t take one more rejection letter. There are too many obstacles. We’ve lost out on another job. Life has dealt us another bad hand, put another lump of coal in our stocking.

Yeah, tell it to J.K. and Leo and Abe.

Let’s make this the year we all get off the excuse caboose, take that lump of coal, move it on up to the engine and feed the fires to get this train a-rollin’!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some work to do.