WHOSE FAULT IS IT ANYWAY?????

Today as never before, people are searching for ways to change and improve their lives. As I speak to people in speeches and seminars everyone has an interest in doing better, not only in their careers, but in their personal lives as well.

The obstacle a lot of people face is the fact that they have never had the most important day of their lives. One’s life truly begins only after they have come to this day. What is this day you might ask? The most important day in anyone’s life is the day the revelation finally dawns upon them that they alone are responsible for 100% of their lives.

They can no longer blame politicians, their upbringing, their fathers or mothers, their brothers or sisters, global warming, gamma rays from Pluto, or any other factors for their problems and troubles. Only when one has reached this revelation can positive change and improvements take place. We have become a society of ” who can I blame for this?” , we seem to float along in life on a river of ” It’s not my fault!!” or     ” Life is not fair!!”. As Mark Twain once said” life is not fair, get over it, life was here first“. Going through life thinking that life is fair is like standing in the field wearing red and thinking the bull will not attack you because he knows you’re a vegetarian.

If one wants to make positive changes in their careers, their attitudes, and their personal life, it can only be done when you take 100% of the responsibility for your life. Responsibility is the key factor in deciding whether you will attain success, not only professionally, but personally.

My good friend Larry Winget is fond of saying ” Don’t tell me how busy you are, show me what you’ve gotten done, words don’t matter, results do.” I agree with this philosophy completely. We all know people who happily will tell you how busy they are, but never really seem to get anything done. Frankly, truly busy people don’t have time to tell you how busy they are! Individuals who get things done always  have two traits in common, they have taken complete responsibility for their entire life, professional and personal, and they are organized.

There are two primary choices in life, to accept your life and conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them, there is really no other way. We make choices daily, we choose our jobs, we choose our friends and mentors, we choose the attitude and the way we deal with others, personally and professionally, and these choices are responsibilities, for which each of us are accountable. The choices have consequences, whether good or bad, and the responsibility for these choices rest 100% upon our own shoulders.

It is a core value that I speak about constantly that if one wishes to change one must take  complete and primary responsibility for their lives, choices, and actions. It is not an easy task, but it is the most single and important decision of anyone’s life. Many go completely through life never meeting this challenge. They simply tend to blame others or conditions for their failures, problems, and troubles.

The good news is, once you make this decision, meet this challenge, and come to this revelation as a core value of your life, things will automatically change for the better. Is it easy? Absolutely not. But it is essential for success in all phases of your life.