FIFTY-SEVEN FAMOUS ALIBIS by Old Man IF
Excerpt from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
A character analyst compiled a list of the most commonly used alibis. As you read the list, examine yourself carefully, and determine how many of these alibis, if any, are your own property.
- IF I didn’t have a wife and family…
- IF I had enough “pull”…
- IF I had money…
- IF I had a good education…
- IF I could get a job…
- IF I had good health…
- IF I only had time…
- IF times were better…
- IF other people understood me…
- IF conditions around me were only different…
- IF I could live my life over again…
- IF I did not fear what “THEY” would say…
- IF I had been given a chance…
- IF I now had a chance…
- IF other people didn’t “have it in for me”…
- IF nothing happens to stop me…
- IF I were only younger…
- IF I could only do what I want…
- IF I had been born rich…
- IF I could meet “the right people”…
- IF I had the talent that some people have…
- IF I dared assert myself…
- IF I only had embraced past opportunities…
- IF people didn’t get on my nerves…
- IF I didn’t have to keep house and look after the children…
- IF I could save some money…
- IF the boss only appreciated me…
- IF I only had somebody to help me…
- IF my family understood me…
- IF I lived in a big city…
- IF I could just get started…
- IF I were only free…
- IF I had the personality of some people…
- IF I were not so fat…
- IF my talents were known…
- IF I could just get a “break”…
- IF I could only get out of debt…
- IF I hadn’t failed…
- IF I only knew how…
- IF everybody didn’t oppose me…
- IF I didn’t have so many worries…
- IF I could marry the right person…
- IF people weren’t so dumb…
- IF my family were not so extravagant…
- IF I were sure of myself…
- IF luck were not against me…
- IF I had not been born under the wrong star…
- IF it were not true that “what is to be will be”…
- IF I did not have to work so hard…
- IF I hadn’t lost my money…
- IF I lived in a different neighborhood…
- IF I didn’t have a “past”…
- IF I only had a business of my own…
- IF other people would only listen to me…
now for the greatest of them all
IF I had the courage to see myself as I really am, I would find out what is wrong with me, and correct it, then I might have a chance to profit by my mistakes and learn something from the experience of others, for I know that there is something WRONG with me , or I would now be where I WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I had spent more time analyzing my weaknesses, and less time building alibis to cover them.
Building alibis is a deeply rooted habit. Habits are difficult to break, especially when they provide justification for something we do. Plato had this truth in mind when he said, “The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.”
Another philosopher had the same thought in mind when he said, “It was a great surprise to me when I discovered that most of the ugliness I saw in others, was but a reflection of my own nature.”
“It has always been a mystery to me,” said Elbert Hubbard, “why people spend so much time deliberately fooling themselves by creating alibis to cover their weaknesses. If used differently, this same time would be sufficient to cure the weakness, then no alibis would be needed.”
