Taking responsibility for your life sounds like a big ask but the thing about about it is that it puts you in the driving seat. If you can honestly say that you are 100% responsible for your life, you will no longer blame other people, companies, organisations, parents, friends, relatives or the circumstances of your life for the outcomes which you choose to live with. Accept more responsibility for your life in a positive purposeful way and only if and when you are capable of it. Don’t take it on as a burden. Rather it should empower you.
We are all capable of so much and we have to start from where we are. We would often like our circumstances to be different but accepting where you are at this time helps you focus on what you can do rather than think only of where you would like to be and get caught up in the emotions of overwhelm, regret or apathy. Often when focusing on where you would like to be it can deter you from taking action if you get caught up in the ‘how’, or feel disappointed at where you are now in relation to where you want to be. It is better to take a positive step in the right direction than to get caught up in the ‘how’s’. As Will Smith suggests in this video, don’t start with the wall, just begin with one brick.
You don’t need to know all the ‘how’s’ in life to get to be where you are going. The how’s will show up when you know your why’s and make daily concerted effort to move things forwards in whatever way you know how to. Begin with accepting that you are responsible for the circumstances of your life from now on. If something isn’t working out you have the power to change it.
It is easy to say all that but sometimes you just get ‘stuck’. Sometimes you can be happy just where you are, other times you can be unhappy where you are. To be happy where you are and at the same time have a great vision of where you would like to be in the best and most powerful state to be in to bring about positive change. It is a state of ‘flow’ where everything lines up and things work almost magically without any conscious effort.
We all shirk responsibility in our lives to some extent or another. We are programmed from an early age to blame our circumstances, and we take on beliefs which we maintain even when they no longer serve us. To really dig down into our ideas, beliefs and attitudes is to discover where we put the ceiling on our achievements. When we have got to a certain point in life do we stop growing? Of course not – there are always bigger and better goals to strive towards.
In which areas of your life are you not taking responsibility for yourself and what can you do to acknowledge and change this?