I chose this photo from my sky collection as the sun is bursting out
of hiding from behind the clouds which is rather like today's topic of Making justifiable Excuses. M'reen
Are You Good
at Making Excuses?
I was laughing as I read this piece
from the satire magazine,
The Onion:
“Personal Trainer Impressed by
Man’s Improved Excuses.“
It purports to be an interview with a
personal trainer who’s impressed by one of his clients
— a guy who has made amazing
improvements in the sophistication of the excuses
he’s giving for not working out.
“Acknowledging
that the progress made in such a short time was remarkable…
[the personal
trainer said] he is very impressed by the improvement in both the strength
and
consistency of his client’s excuses…’
A few months
ago he had really weak pretences for not sticking to a workout plan,
but he’s put
in a lot of effort and now he’s sporting much more robust and powerful
justifications…
After seeing
how he struggled early on with a simple excuse about traffic, it’s gratifying
to see him push himself and dig deep for rationalizations that more believably
exonerate him…[like] tackling a long, grueling story about how construction in
his neighborhood aggravated his dust mite allergies.'”
I love this piece, because I love
loopholes. Loopholes are so funny.
So imaginative, and so
ingenious.
We’re like cell phones searching for a
signal
— as we cast about for an appropriate
loophole to let us off the hook.
As Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Autobiography,
“So convenient a thing is it to be a reasonable creature, since it
enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do. ”
When we want to find a loophole, we can
always find a reason.
Note: with a loophole, we’re not
mindfully making an exception,
but looking for a justification that
excuses us from sticking to a particular habit.
If we can spot loopholes,
we can perhaps resist invoking them,
and do a better job of
keeping a good habit.
The ten — yes, ten —
categories of loopholes are:
1. False choice loophole – “I
can’t do this, because I’m so busy doing that”
– this is one I often use, myself
2. Moral licensing loophole — “I’ve been so good, it’s okay for me to do this”
3. Tomorrow loophole — “It’s okay to skip today, because I’m going to do this
tomorrow”
4. Lack of control loophole — “I can’t help myself”
5. Planning to fail loophole, formerly known as the “Apparently irrelevant decision
loophole”
6. “This doesn’t count” loophole – “I’m on vacation” “I’m sick” “It’s the weekend”
7. Questionable assumption loophole — “the label says it’s healthy”
8. Concern
for others loophole — “I can’t do this
because it might make other people uncomfortable”
9. Fake self-actualization loophole – “You only live once! Embrace the moment!”
10. One-coin loophole –“What
difference does it make if I break my habit this one time?”
I love that the Onion
article highlights the point that even if a person’s workouts aren’t improving,
he might be improving his
loophole-seeking.
What loophole do you
invoke most often?
I listed my own favorite
as #1, the false choice loophole.
But I think that others,
such as #4 and #6, are more popular.
http://www.gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2015/01/are-you-good-at-making-excuses/
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com
this takes advantage
of the experience and expertise of others.
www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com describes
the steps to reading in the way your mind prefers.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com
just for fun.
Advanced
Reading Skills FaceBook group
To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you
read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
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