Live without excuses, like you mean it.

I cannot believe how hard it is to actually instill values in another.  I never thought it would be easy, but I’m starting to feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.  Values and work ethic are something you need from childhood.  The idea that you will constantly be judged by your peers, and your employers, should be with you always, at least until you can understand, you will do better than they ever did, or can.

When I worked, and when I was in school, I was never late, and I never missed a day, unless I was so deathly ill I could not move, or I thought it would be dangerous for me to do so.  I still remember barely getting to work with Walking Pneumonia, getting on my forklift, and driving straight into a wall because I was too weak to operate the steering mechanism....  I left early knowing that it would be very bad for me to try to do operate heavy machinery.


Before and after that incident, I’ve always been amazed at how people will come up with any excuse under the sun to get out of work, or school.  I’ve always found it sad, and very hard not to look down upon those types of people.  Some male co-workers would always say, “Oh, poor man hurt his vagina,” which was highly sexist, but in the end, they had a good point.

You can’t be a whiner and make it in this world, there’s too much hardship, too much pain for you to wallow in something and use it for an excuse.  I’ve met women that would outwork men hands down, even when they were on their period, and I’ve seen women that always used that for an excuse.  Being a guy, I’m not saying shame on anyone for that excuse, but I know some don’t use that excuse, and I’d pick them for an employee over someone that used that excuse....

Life is not about making excuses, its about powering through it, overcoming your pains and fears and conquering life itself.  I’ve been to work and school many times when I didn’t feel like it, and I still outworked people, because it was my job, it was my education at stake.  I’ve never used a false excuse to get out of anything in my life, and I feel so sad and let down when anyone I respect tries to use false excuses.

Best advice I can give to anyone, is simply that you are better than that, you truly are.  You can overcome any situation you dare to try to overcome.  There are moments when you will be so sick that you can’t go to work, and in all of those instances, hospitalization should be an option.

Main thing is, live your life in a way that makes you proud to have lived it.  Never back down, never give in, and do your best all the time.  If you do that, if you set high expectations of yourself, then you will always put the naysayers in their place.  I know that every time I have had a job, I became the best worker there, and I was always let go because of corporate downsizing.  I always held my head high, and knew I did my best, and there was nothing more I can ask of myself than that.

–Dan