A national pastime......................

     Building alibis with which to explain away failure is a national pastime.  The habit is as old as the human race, and is fatal to success!  Why do people cling to their pet alibis?  The answer is obvious.  The defend their alibis because they create them!  A man's alibi is the child of his own imagination.  It is human nature to defend one's own brain-child.
     Building alibis is a deeply rooted habit.  Habits are difficult to break, especially when they provide justification for something we do.  Plato has this truth in mind when he said, "The first and best victory is to conquer self.  To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile."
-Napoleon Hill, as excerpted from Think and Grow Rich