There was a man who often felt left out by his coworkers. One day, he finally confided in his boss:
“It feels like no one really listens to me at work. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong, but they just ignore me.”
His boss replied that he could explain why, but only if the man agreed to do everything he was asked to without complaint. The man agreed.
“Start with the most important task first,” the boss instructed. The man said okay and began the assignments.
The next morning, the boss came in and asked,
“So, did you finish what I asked?”
The man replied,
“Not yet. You know how much work I had yesterday. It was overwhelming! There was no way I could finish it all by myself. I would’ve had to stay up all night and still . . .”
He kept going until the boss finally interrupted:
“Stop. The first thing you should’ve done was accept your part in the problem. As long as you keep making excuses, no one is going to take what you say seriously.”