Taking Responsibility

As time goes on society seems to be losing its sense of responsibility. I am not going to turn this into a pollical rant, but as a leader if you don’t have a sense of responsibility then this will be how your team and those you influence will behave, and therefore becomes hard to change it.

People shy away from responsibility all because of laziness, fear of failure, fear of consequences of mistakes. But whatever reason in failing to accept responsibility is to fail at your job, whether a factory worker, a parent, a speaker or a member of your community.

Taking responsibility is about not blaming others for what happens in your world. So often as leader I have had people come to me telling me the faults of others, or ‘telling tales’, my response is very simple, ‘Ok, that is what they have done, but did you do?’ because everything we experience is the result of a choice we made, whether immediate or in the past.

Taking responsibility is about not complaining, a good leader will adapt to change, they will make things work and complete tasks with whatever tools and manpower they are given. Yes, sometimes it feels we are understaffed but if there is no more staff to give then your complaints are pointless. Sometimes we don’t know the bigger picture, so complaining can just sound as though we are refusing to work.

In a world with freedom of speech and every opinion matter getting offended when someone disagrees with us is the new norm. we seem to forget that everyone sees the world differently through the way they have they were brought up. So, taking responsibility is about not taking things personally. The world doesn’t revolve around any individual, it us who revolve around our own world.

Taking responsibility is about choosing to be happy is something everyone wants in the world. But it’s the hardest thing for many to find with mental health, depression and anxiety. Many look for external and material things for happiness, but the truth is that happiness is found within. It starts with knowing ourselves, our limits, our passions. Sometimes we become unhappy because we don’t fill our time with things that make us happy, so we become workaholics because we need other things to do.

Living in the moment is our responsibility, not worrying about something that happened last week or last month, or the little tasks we have to do when we get home. Living in the moment is about moving forward in life, being the gatekeeper of your thoughts, not allowing the same thoughts and concerns run through your mind hundreds of times a day. Find ways to dispose of thoughts, write them down, talk them out. Enjoy the moment, allow it to bring fresh thoughts and views, allow it to be the wow of a sunrise of a spring morning.

Become intentional in life. Do things because you mean it whole heartedly, be willing to take the consequences of being wrong and making mistakes. Have the vision on your mind of your life, your business, your relationship, your health and wealth. Don’t say yes when you don’t want to, don’t live to please other people, make your choice, be deliberate in moving forward toward manifesting the life you want.

When we are responsible for our life, our actions and words we become calm and confident in the world around us. We do allow ourselves to play the victim in situations of blame, because the question will always be, if I accept this situation, this conversation, how am I going to respond?

We are really good at finding the bad in people, we can point blame and mistakes, but when was the last time you told someone, they were doing a good job? Or find something good in a bad situation, disagreement that can be looked on as positive as a lesson or actually shows the kindness of the intention of that other.

We are all responsible for our own words, thoughts, feelings and actions. We cannot control others and they cannot control the way we behave in response. Remember bad backs don’t very often come on over night, they build up over a period of time and the same of a bad situation, argument or disagreement. Sometimes it the way we have behaved over a period or things we have said that will lead that situation, but when we are finally challenged do we accept our responsibility of what we did, even if we weren’t aware it affected another or do we deny and make excuses?

The only person who is responsible for us, our actions and words is ourselves.