For the past couple of weeks, I've been using a simple framework to understand excuses/rationalisations better:
"Excuses can be valid and still be excuses."
This concept has been immensely useful for breaking down the way I think about excuses.
Often, when we hear excuses, we can easily identify them as cop-outs or BS. But sometimes, the rational mind can construct excuses that are logically valid. This is when we falter in how we view excuses. I think internalising this idea has been immensely useful for me as it helps me break out of the rationalisation my brain can do, and it helps me call out excuses that I or others are making better.