How do you take responsibility?

Many people persist in the belief that everyone is entitled to everything they want: money, health, pleasure. And that the world must make sure that they get it. I believe that the only one responsible for your wishes, your desires and the realization thereof is you. How do you do that? By taking 100% responsibility. For yourself, for your commitment, for your results, for your relationships, for your health, and for your finances. In many cases an outside cause is sought for what is not right inside. And not just a cause, but often also the blame. Everything bad that happens to us is the fault of others. From the parents, the employer, the partner, the friends, the colleagues, the media and certainly politics. The moment we stop blaming and complaining, we make room to take responsibility ourselves. Completely and totally. For our successes and for our defeats. We have no influence on much that happens outside of us, but we can influence what goes on inside us: our thoughts, our dreams, our actions. Those three factors determine our experience. We can: turn negative thoughts into positive, gloomy expectations into hopeful, and turn destructive responses into constructive actions. You decide where you go, what you eat, what you read, who your friends are, how you speak. 

"If you always do what you always did, you will get what you always have." - Steve Jobs.

In AA, one of the first things that participants are taught is that they cannot continue to display the same behaviour and expect a different outcome.

You can choose to:

• Eat healthier
• Rely more on your gut
• Take more care of yourself and others 
• Ask for help
• Take a course
• Look for another job

You can choose not to do it as well. Because you think there are risks involved.

You can: 

• Fail
• Become unemployed
• Get lonely
• Make mistakes
• Have opposition
• Receive disapproval

If you want change, you will have to take the risk that something will change. For better or for worse. It will take awareness and discipline. But you don't have to do it alone. 

Ask for feedback:

• Am i doing it right?
• How can I do better?
• Can I approach it differently?
• Am I missing something?

Fear of criticism is also what often keeps you from taking responsibility or taking action. But that fear is often unfounded and you can counteract it substantively. After all, the truth is nothing to fear. The truth is the truth and there is nothing you can do about it. Whether it is spoken or kept silent. Nobody can and will take responsibility for you. You can and should do that yourself. Do more of what works and less of what doesn't. 

"Only those who are willing to fail unbelievably will succeed unbelievably." - Robert Kennedy. US senator.