“I’m responsible.” Not you. Not the government. Not my boss. Not anyone.
If you ever plan to achieve anything significant, “I’m responsible” must become words you’re comfortable with. If you’ve a reached a point in life and you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, and you’re ready to start happening to life instead of the opposite, “I’m responsible” must become your close friend.
In fact, taking responsibility and holding yourself accountable actually gives you the freedom needed to go after your goals and dreams. Yes, the freedom to. While that may seem counter intuitive, it’s not.
Have you ever noticed how we tend to be creatures of habit? We like routines. We take the same routes to the same destinations. We eat the same things.
Well, we tend to respond to things the same way as well. We establish response patterns for particular situations. One of those patterns is making excuses, shirking responsibility and blaming others. I’ve done it. We all have. The problem is we rob ourselves from achieving more when we do this.
“I didn’t have time.” “I was just too busy.” “They didn’t let me.” “It’s their fault.”
While there are times these may be true, these or similar statements have become default for when we fail to do something. And until we rid them from our vocabulary and break this response pattern, we will achieve little. We will never have a truly successful marriage. Our businesses will fail if they ever even get going. We will look back in 20 years and be in the exact same place. True happiness will be something someone else has.
If you’ve ever hung out with or know really successful, happy people, you don’t hear excuses. They own their failures as much as their successes. They take full responsibility.
No one ever achieved their dream saying “I didn’t have time.”
No one ever pulled their marriage back from the brink saying “I was just too busy.”
No one ever discovered their why for living saying “They didn’t let me.”
No one ever built a successful business saying “It’s their fault.”
When we swap blame for responsibility, we change. Our spirit changes. When we remove the clothing of fear and indecision, we remove shackles that restrict us from living better. This is actually behavior we all know very well.
We own cars. And we fuel them so they can take us somewhere. We own that decision.
We feed ourselves to stay alive. We don’t rely on someone else.
We educate ourselves to learn. We took matters into our own hands.
We take care of our families the best way we know how. We don’t outsource it.
Every day, we exhibit the behavior and knowledge to change our course. It’s a decision, a decision that we own.
When we assume responsibility for our lives, no matter the circumstances, we become free to take ourselves some place new. Some place better. Some place more purposeful.
Question: Has not taking responsibility ever kept you from achieving something?
Joel Fortner's blog 
Bored a work and googled the words “I didn’t plan on this” and this is what I found. I am from a small town in Ontario and am enjoying reading your blog! Thanks so much for sharing and being relevant.
Very cool. Glad you’re enjoying it. Thanks for letting me know. It’s nice to know who is out there reading it.
Thanks for this, Joel. Great post.
Thanks, Lana! Thanks for reading. Hope all is well!
Yet another 5 star post! Thanks for your inspiration Joel, keep up the great work!
Thanks, Leo! And thanks for being a reader. Glad the content is meaningful for you. Happy New Year!
Your first line totally reminds me of myself, from when we talked about something before!
All the excuses you mention in your post I’ve heard over and over again from a key person in my life. Funny thing is, it took me a couple years to recognize them for what they were–excuses. When I finally recognized that, it made me realize it doesn’t matter what our life looks like (everyone has HUGE obstacles to overcome) our personal reactions or proactiveness is what determines where we ultimately end up. It can be frustrating when we know someone who won’t acknowledge that truth, BUT it is definitely liberating to realize it in our own lives. Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Amen! It is definitely something we have to want.
It’s so true we need to take responsibility for our actions and attitudes if we want to move forward. We all have bad habits but it’s a choice to own up to them and change them. No one else can fully help us change. It also requires ownership of what needs to change. It all starts with responsibility. Great post.
Thanks, Dan. Taking responsibility is step one to achieving anything, especially changing your position in life.
Thanks for sharing this, so simple and so true, taking responsibility will go alonng in making us wildly successfully and fulfilled, just wish all of us would.
I’ve found saying “it’s mine” has been wonderfully freeing, regardless of the situation. It also communicates well to others.