A wise person once said “When you blame others, you give up your power to change”. The most disturbing trend I have seen in recent years is everyones eagerness to point the finger of blame for their lives onto someone else. Sure, things may be more difficult for you if you come from a certain background, they may be harder if you aren’t in the right social circles, they may be daunting if you don’t have the right financial backing, but they are only impossible if you don’t take responsibility for your own life.
“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility.” – Albert Einstein
You are Responsible for your Success, and Your Failures
Take at look at what you want to accomplish, devise a plan to do it, and start down that road. If it does not work, figure out what went wrong, and adjust your plan accordingly. You only fail when you stop trying to succeed. Sure, it is easy to say “I failed because of that person, or this situation” but in truth, you would have failed because you allowed that person or situation stop you from continuing on your path to success.
“It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it.” – Sophocles
Taking Responsibility for Yourself Means Refusing to be a Victim
It is your choice and your choice alone when to give up, throw in the towel, and become a victim. If you let someone else make that choice for you, well that was your choice as well. If someone tells you that you aren’t good enough, or that people like you don’t succeed in that field, or that you can’t overcome the obstacles in front of you, you can either choose to agree with them, or prove them wrong. Take responsibility for yourself, and prove them wrong.
“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If you look at anyone who is successful, you will see that they are responsible for that success. Our greatest athletes practice every day. They practice their sport, they are at the gym tuning their bodies, or they are researching their sport, and what others who excel at it are doing.
We must realize that that level of responsibility needs to be applied to anything that we want to excel at. Practice what you do, fine tune yourself to do it better, and study what both your competitors, and the masters of that field have done. This is your responsibility.
“Peak performance begins with your taking complete responsibility for your life and everything that happens to you.” – Brian Tracy
Take responsibility for yourself and don’t think that you can’t do it because… Because is an obstacle, and obstacles can be overcome. You just need to make yourself a skilled enough player to overcome them.
“Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” – John F. Kennedy