I want to help you get clear on the life you want to live. Maybe you’ve realized that for too long you’ve just let your life amble on, doing nothing to take control of it, and particularly ignoring what needs to be done to take your life in the direction of your choosing.
Now you want life to be better than it is. You’re responsible for everything that happens to you. I know that many of you are screaming at your screens saying ‘I’m not responsible, it’s not my fault, it’s not my responsibility that things have worked out the way they have.’
Let me tell you one thing, every time something happens to you, you have a choice of how to react.
I think there is nothing more important than taking full responsibility for what happens in our life. A lot of what we describe as success in life is a direct result of taking responsibility. You have to accept the fact, that everything that has happened in your life is a direct effect of who you are, and the decisions you made.
So taking responsibility is the starting point for growth in your life. It is looking inside and realizing that if you want the world around you to get better, you will have to get better. Simply get clear and say to yourself: I am responsible! And mean it.
What does ‘responsible’ even mean precisely?
This is the definition from Merriam-Webster’s:
- liable to be called on to answer
- liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive, or agent responsible
- able to answer for one’s conduct and obligations
- able to choose for oneself between right and wrong
So, are you ‘responsible’ for all that is happening in your life?
Supporting your responsibility you have to have respect for yourself and a belief in everything that you do. By doing things. you are giving yourself the chance to get where you want to go.
Goethe, “Once you wholeheartedly commit to a task, then providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that otherwise would never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from a decision, raising in one’s favor all kinds of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance in a way which no man could have ever dreamed of.”
The more responsible you are, the more powerful you are, the freer you are, the more chance you have of making life brilliant.
I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Although taking responsibility for everything that happens in our life is an easy concept, some find it hard coming to terms with it. It is crucial for you to adopt this way of thinking because when you find yourself in a bad place, the quickest way to change your situation is to look at your actions and what role your actions played in bringing about your problems.
You’re responsible for your life and how things turn out. You have no control over what happens to you or what someone else does to you, but you do have control over the way you respond. When faced with the end of a marriage, you have a choice. You can get bogged down in blame and bitterness, or you can take an honest inventory of your own shortcomings and mistakes during the marriage and determine how best to go forward with your life. Instead of allowing myself to be miserable I decided that if my relationship was dead then I would make the rest of my life flourish.
You can both point your finger to blame others or you can take responsibility. Until you are willing to take responsibility for the mistakes you made and the role you played, you will not take control of your life.
You are the architect of your own life, so get building, and construct the greatest life you can.
The point is that almost everything that happens to us is in our own hands. Your destiny is very much up to you. Your future is largely determined by your own choices and decisions and your commitment. It is not what happens to us that determines your outcomes but how you respond to them. Whatever is thrown at you it is essential that you keep fighting, moving forward all the time reacting to your difficulties by saying, ‘this isn’t going to stop me.’ Failure is not final, the end is when you decide it is.
What you achieve is the result of what you do, or fail to do, day by day and year by year. So no matter what has happened to this point remember you have many possibilities and opportunities to create your own future. My life has gone through ups and downs, but I never gave up, and now life’s great. I took responsibility, and always will.
Your highest responsibility is to take command of your future and shape your destiny the way you want it, to do something wonderful with your life.
