Ways to distinguish yourself #202 – Avoid common mis-attributions

By Rajesh Setty on Tue 27 Jan 2009, 11:32 PM – 5 Comments

It is a problem if you are “smart” and “lazy” as you can explain away several things to your convenience. One way for coming with “explanations of convenience” is to mis-attribute things.

If you want to distinguish yourself, you can avoid common mis-attributions AND stop playing mind games.

I have chosen a few mis-attributions to jumpstart your thinking. This list is in no way complete and please feel free to add/modify the list. The idea is not to get the list right but to get into the practice of noticing mis-attributions in your daily life and shun it.

So, here is the mis-attribution list:

1. “Hard work due to incompetence” mis-attributed to “Going the extra mile”

2. “Ineffectiveness” mis-attributed to “Wanting to be a nice person”

[Hat tip for this tip: Nipa Shah of Jenesys Group]

3. “Unable to decide what to do in life” mis-attributed to “Still figuring out options”

4. “Unable to make money” mis-attributed to “Not interested in money”

5. “Not being on time” mis-attributed to “Slow and steady wins the race”

6. “Unable to take tough decisions” mis-attributed to “Thinking about all options”

7. “Unable to have a difficult conversation” mis-attributed to “Wanting to be politically correct”

8. “Not getting things done” mis-attributed to “Wanting to be a perfectionist”

9. “Unable to get good help” mis-attributed to “Trying to figure it all out alone”

10. “Unable to contribute to the world” mis-attributed to “Swamped with work and unable to find time”

All the best!

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Note 1: Here are links to the other 200 articles in the series

Rajesh Setty: Best of Life Beyond Code – Distinguish Yourself #1 – #50

Rajesh Setty: Best of Life Beyond Code -Distinguish Yourself #51 – #100

Rajesh Setty: Best of Life Beyond Code -Distinguish Yourself #101 – #100

Rajesh Setty: Best of Life Beyond Code -Distinguish Yourself #151 – #200

Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:

ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)

Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:

ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)

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