Just A Thought:

No one cares about your excuses as much as you do. In fact, no one cares about your excuses at all, except you.

When our actions have outcomes that don’t line up with how we see ourselves, we tend to insulate our egos by blaming other people or unfavourable circumstances. 

Phrases like, “It was a great idea just poorly executed,” “We did the best we could,” and “We never should’ve been in this situation in the first place,” are often examples of this self-preserving tendency.

Here’s the thing: it might be true. Maybe it really wasn’t a bad idea, just bad execution. Maybe you really did do the best you could. Maybe you never should have been in that situation in the first place. It doesn’t really matter. No one cares. None of it changes the outcome or solves the problems that still remain.

Just because something happened that was outside of your control doesn’t mean it’s not your responsibility to deal with circumstances the best you can.

Focus on the next move. The next move makes the future easier or harder.

Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking of it. 

If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do. The test of learning psychology is whether your understanding of situations you encounter has changed, not whether you have learned a new fact.

And my favourite from Henry David Thoreau:

It's not what you look at that matters; it's what you see.

For me, "what you see" implies critical thinking. 

IMHO (in my humble opinion), critical thinking is one of the most important skills and habits we can teach our children.

In this age of misinformation, disinformation, Deep Fake images, video and audio, conspiracy theories and our natural tendency to '*confirmation bias', critical thinking is more important than ever.

• Confirmation bias, a phrase coined by English psychologist Peter Wason, is the tendency of people to favour information that confirms or strengthens their beliefs or values and is difficult to dislodge once affirmed.