Don’t blame anyone else for your performance, as it is YOUR performance. While I have said this time and time again, I was reminded of it and humbled by it a few days ago as a number of people have been waiting on my contributions in order for certain processes to move forward. It was all me, my fault, my inability to be effective at that time and as such I took full ownership and responsibility for my lack of contributions.
Now, I could have blamed traffic, weather, government…and so on, but I haven’t as that wouldn’t be honest and sincere, it wouldn’t be the truth. Instead, I apologized, I acknowledged my shortcomings and have worked diligently to catch up and address them without additional delays. It took some re-prioritization of my schedule and some calendar “magic”, but it was done as it is something I committed to a while earlier and I make sure to always deliver on my agreements.