“Bad worker blames his tools,” My dad said on the phone the night before my first day at my first job. I was in Delhi and my parents were back in Kerala.

“Ya Dad! I know, let me sleep now, I don’t want to be late for tomorrow” I said. I wanted to end the conversation and continue watching YouTube. Little did I know that I was going to hear the same words of wisdom again, that too within 24 hours!!

I was new to Delhi and stayed almost 2 hours away from my new workplace. Due to all night net surfing, I got up late the next day. Even after all the hurry burry, I reached work 2-hour late.

“Sorry sir,” I said as I saw my Boss, as I saw him on the corridor.

“Why are you late,” My Boss asked.

“Sir, traffic,” I blurted the age-old excuse for delay.

“Come on man, I thought a millennial like you would have invented a better excuse for ‘coming late’ to work.” He said.

He was right. I should have made up a better lie. I should have told him that there was no data/internet on my phone, and hence I could not access Google maps to find my way in the new city.

Then the boss recited the same sentence my Dad said, “Bad worker blames his tools.”

It was a complete Deja Vu. I should have listened to my Dad. To this day I have not forgotten those words and have always embraced the learning from them.

Most often in life, when we face challenges, we quickly react to it either by blaming a person (‘a bad boss’), a thing (‘the old and slow laptop’) or, a circumstance (‘hard, balancing work and study’). However, instead of blaming something, if we take a moment to analyze the situation and respond with honesty, the outcome is usually better, much better.