If it weren’t for xxxxx, it would have ended differently…..

If it weren’t for xxxxx, it would have ended differently…..

We all have sat back and tried to justify for something or the other we did, which threw the spanner in and made things end the way they did. Something we did that made a porridge of some situation that may well have ended differently, probably better. Especially those things that the genius in us thought, with certainty, would work out as we wanted. We start off convincing ourselves that, but for that one error, we would have succeeded. Another, even greater problem is the problem of presenting it to others. The art of recounting reasons for failures to others, is an art form in itself. It usually starts with, “if it weren’t for that one misfortune you would have seen me come up trumps”.

Well, just to let them know that you are not quite as dumb as they reckon, are you?

What is the true retrospection?  Revisiting a deed, thought or response that you committed in the past, and reevaluating its correctness is retrospection. It is a great way of correcting yourself and preventing recurrence of the same mistakes again. It may even help you develop a methodology, in doing similar things. Retrospection in short is an honest evaluation and correction of your past deeds.

Retrospection has another face to it….well, if you call it retrospection. This in essence is the art of fabricating a new aspect to your failure. The fact that you goofed up is something you like many others have difficulty in accepting. This gets even worse when it is noticed by others. The worst is when someone else does it successfully. This, then, is when an excuse is not just handy, but imperative. This form of retrospection, involves a bit of creativity. What was done can be modified a bit. The timings often needs to be adjusted too….just a bit is not too bad, is it? With a moderate addition of salt in terms of the slightly altered situations, adeptly touched versions of  what you were told to do and supposedly led to believe and a liberal dose of imagination, your version can be made to look convincing – well at least to yourself.

I have heard a few wise heads say that it is okay to fail occasionally, as long as you don’t make a habit of it. One option you always have is to own up to it. Listeners, as commonly observed, seem to have a greater tolerance for true tales of failure. But then if you are the unfailing type, then you better start the cooking up for everything you do. Failure is not something that you work for, it happens and you better be ready – every time. Make the excuse, a good one, though.