There are times when things go wrong. There are times when things go really wrong. To eloquently offer a modern idiom, “Shit happens.” Sometimes we fail, but it is how you respond to your failure that makes all the difference in your life and your world.
We see the blame game everywhere we go. It’s far too easy to place blame on someone or something else when things go wrong in our lives. “Someone else must be responsible for me being late to work, for me being overweight, for me being unhappy! Someone else must be responsible for this mess, ’cause it sure ain’t me!” Blame is literally placing responsibility into someone else’s lap. Blame is holding someone else responsible for your life. Stop and think about how scary and helpless that prospect is for just a moment. When we blame others for all that has happened to us, we are also giving them responsibility for our very own lives! In our minds, we are literally holding someone else responsible for our futures.
Blame brings helplessness and depression into our lives. Responsibility facilitates growth and empowerment.
Life, for so many people, seems much easier just being the victim. When it’s always someone else’s fault that you haven’t succeeded, it’s not your fault. And if it’s not your fault, then you’ve done everything you can…right? Wrong! So wrong. I’m about to give you all the power you can ask for to influence your life in a single sentence. A sentence I want you to write on your mind forever. Are you ready…?
You are responsible for your own destiny.
It sounds simple, but it’s something so many of us forget. And what an incredibly powerful thing that is. We are responsible for our own lives, successes, happiness, health, and futures. When you place blame on others for your misfortunes, you are also giving others the power to dictate your life. When you place responsibility on yourself, you are giving yourself an incredible power to actually do something to change your misfortunes into fortunes.
You are responsible for your own destiny.
This all starts with the mindset. If we begin to take responsibility for our lives instead of blaming others, we will take action to remedy our situations and direction. When we are responsible, we don’t want to let ourselves down, not even for a minute. Because that means facing the man in the mirror tomorrow morning and knowing we didn’t do anything to change our situation. When we are responsible, we can’t blame others. We know we are in charge of our futures.
Travis Barton
Life Coach
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