Bite Your Tongue and Give No Excuses
There are times in life that things are just not your fault, but you have to suffer the consequences. You are late for an important meeting because the train got delayed. When you walk into the meeting do you explain first and apologise or apologise first and explain? Neither. You bite your tongue, apologise, and try to salvage the situation. No one likes to hear excuses.
Is this fair? It is not. Since when life is fair? Shit happens, suck it up. Be the person who has the mop and start cleaning. We do not win life's war by giving excuses. We win the war by taking action.