Justifying our shortcomings and pretending we don’t see them is a terrible surrogate for real action and virtue. I can blame my workplace, my spouse, my kids, my lack of support, or even my DNA for my problems, but to what avail? The problem is still sitting there, unresolved. When I’m willing to accept an excuse in place of the goal itself, I should admit that I never wanted it badly enough in the first place. My actions expose my true passions, or lack thereof. They are condemning. We can often fool others, but not ourselves.
