I love watching mixed martial arts (MMA). The fighters are warriors and they make me appreciate what I do for a living. In any event, something happened during a fight that sums up how I occasionally feel about business.

One of the fighters broke his hand in the second round of his fight. The announcers immediately launched into a discussion about what separates the great fighters from the average fighters.

The announcers said a fighter starts out with eight weapons; two hands, two elbows, two knees and two feet. If a hand or foot is broken during the fight, which is very common, the great fighter focuses on the fact that they have seven weapons. The average fighter focuses on the fact that they lost one.

How do we react to events in our life? There is a big difference between acknowledging challenges and delivering up an excuse.

We can acknowledge the fact that we broke a foot and use that information to change our game plan and go on to win. Or we can use the broken foot as an excuse for losing.

Human nature favors the latter because it lets us off the hook, particularly when we are moving into the tough stuff. Excuses allow us to save face. We can continue to believe that we are champions, even though we lost the fight. We can tell ourselves, I could have won, if only…you fill in the blank.

We know things get broken in the ordinary course of business; technology fails, partners or employees leave, people don’t always perform to our expectations. But we should not allow it to be an excuse for not achieving our goals.

Adjust accordingly in order to reach your goals. No deceptions. No “if only.” We have plenty of other weapons!

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Brian Amann can be reached at 303.921.5310 or send an email.

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