I heard the classic rock song  “It wasn’t me” by Chuck Berry which appeared on his 1965 studio album ” Fresh Berrys”  on the radio this morning.  This was his 9th studio album.

The title and chorus line appealed to me as a potentially great blog topic.  And so here we are.  In this case, the author is me, but for everything else you want to blame me for, well, it wasn’t me.

On the Defence

It is natural to defend ourselves.  Our unconscious can play a big role in this leading us to explain why it was not us even before we have thought it through.

Self defence can begin even before conscious logic kicks in.  Not surprisingly, this is not always the best approach.  We revere honesty in others and so owning up to mistakes and taking the blame right out of the box can put us in good stead with others.

However, that takes more than a little effort, in main because we will both naturally and unconsciously immediately defend ourselves.  Not sure what the accusation is but “No, No wasn’t me” is often our first reaction.

Own Up

It has been my experience accepting blame, without excuse or explanation (and thats a real important part) focusing on resolution works wonders.

This is not to suggest we should accept responsibility for ever accusation, in particular those for which we really are not to blame.

That said falling on our sword, while not  a natural inclination can very often be the best approach and a way to turn failure into success.

Give it some thought next time the opportunity to avoid blame comes up, maybe you should be singing “ Yes, Yes, it was me”.