Fundamentals for Success: Accept 

Responsibility

Do you want to be a successful person?

There is only one person who is responsible for the outcome and quality of your life, and that is you.

Successful people take responsibility for every facet of their lives: Planning their goals, their decisions, their actions, their productivity, their outcomes and achievements, their failures, their attitude, their relationships, their thinking, their feelings, and everything else. 

Dr. Dave Martin in his book "The 12 Traits of the Greats" says, “ If you want things to get better in your life, you have to get better. If you want things to change, you have to change. If you want things to improve and grow, you have to improve and grow. That is how the simple law of responsibility works. Greater progress in life is possible only to the degree that you accept more responsibility in your life".

The hard truth is that you are living with the results of your past choices and decisions. And so too will your future be decided by the choices you make today. One of the most important aspects in taking full responsibility for your success in life is how you confront the obstacles, circumstances, people, and personal challenges that lie between you and your goals in every facet of your life.

One of the biggest challenges for most people is to confront change; we all can become stuck and complacent. When you accept the belief that there is nothing you can do to improve your life, you will become a prisoner to your circumstances. Making life changes is difficult because it is uncomfortable; it is much easier to simply settle for the easiest path. 

Most people want to change for the better, but we cannot change without accepting responsibility.  It is easy to come up with a host of reasons why we cannot be move forward; so the battle always begins in our own mind with what we tell ourselves.  We all must decide which type of person we want to become: the person who lets life happen to them and sits back to accept their fate, or the person who takes responsibility for the direction and path their life will take.

To make greater progress in your life you simply have to accept more responsibility. When you step up to the plate and accept responsibility for your decisions and circumstances, you will feel more positive about yourself; you will feel more control over your destiny in life. 

Understand everything that happens to you is the result of your choices. You cannot control other people or the world around you, but you can take the responsibility as to how you choose to respond to life’s challenges. The outcome of your life will always equal the sum total of how you chose to respond to all of your life events and circumstances.

Find comfort in the knowledge you will always have control over three important things in your life: the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take.  The amount of responsibility you accept for these three ongoing areas will determine the quality of your life. 

If you are not pleased with your outcomes relative to your expectations to date, you are going to have to modify one or more of these three components. You are going to have to alter what you think, how you acquire knowledge, with whom you associate and communicate, your dreams and goals, your actions, and your daily habits.

You’re the one! You are the one who created the thoughts that led to your actions that placed you where you are today. 

If you are pleased with where you are, congratulations! If you not happy with your success in life, accept more responsibility today and start moving forward – one day at a time.