Things Changed Once I Started Taking Responsibility for My Actions
Did you know, you’re allowed to screw up?
We’ve all screwed up.
Whether you tripped on your own feet as a kid learning to walk or you made a bad call and your business shut down…
It’s happened.
That’s okay though.
What’s not okay is when you do not take responsibility when you do screw up.
Otherwise, you don’t learn and growth only happens if you learn from your mistakes.
My greatest failures
All of my greatest failures have come after I did not learn from a previous mistake.
Whether it was losing a ton of money in the market or spreading myself financially too thin over and over again – had I learned from previous mistakes, I could have saved myself a lot of pain.
Not surprisingly, many of my greatest successes have come after I took responsibility for a mistake and adjusted accordingly.
That success has come in many forms.
Time saved
Financial gains
Personal growth
Healthier relationships
As I said above, growth happens if you learn from your mistakes.
We live in a world where many struggle to take accountability
Failure was completely frowned upon for so long that many people now fear failing at all. This fear has resulted in those same people lacking the ability to be accountable.
Instead of taking responsibility for their actions and the result of those actions, they find something else to blame. There is somehow always an external factor out of their control to blame – never themselves.
It is okay to screw up – we all do from time to time.
It’s not okay if you don’t learn from your mistakes though. Blaming your mistakes on others or some other external factor will not result in self-improvement.
Things will go downhill quickly
If things continue to go as they are now, our world will struggle to improve. If no one takes responsibility, how will anyone take the necessary steps to change when needed?
Failing is how we as humans learn.
For example, you’re driving and hit the curb. Now, you can either adjust how you drive, or you can blame the curb and say the road was too narrow.
In one scenario, you become a better driver, in the next, you could easily continue to drive awfully and eventually cause a car accident.
The same is applicable in most aspects of life.
Taking responsibility gives you control
I want to challenge you to take responsibility for anything bad that happens to you for a week.
This sounds exhausting, but you’ll quickly realize that it puts control into your hands.
Did someone hurt your feelings? You shouldn’t let someone else's opinion hurt you.
Did you get laid off from work? You should have worked harder.
Did your girlfriend break up with you? You should have been a better boyfriend.
By taking responsibility in each of these scenarios, the next time you have a chance, you will act differently.
You will be tougher, work harder and be a more loving person. Now, the control is in your hands.
You can’t control external factors, but you can control how you react to them.
Accountability led to my successes
Without question, all of my greatest successes have come after taking responsibility for a previous failure.
In the nightlife industry, I was promoting nightclubs and had multiple failed attempts. I continuously blamed outside factors.
But, once I took responsibility and realized that my failings were my own doing, I was able to take the necessary steps to find success.
I started connecting and partnering with others who were good at what I was not. I reached out to others to learn from them and within a year, my income more than tripled.
The same happened in my relationships.
I was always blaming my exes for issues that stemmed from myself.
In reality, not only did I have deep underlying issues that I was not confronting, but I also was heavily to blame for starting relationships with girls I shouldn’t have been dating in the first place.
I was ignoring red flags because I was seeking approval.
Once I acknowledged that, I was able to work on myself, grow and eventually find the amazing girlfriend I have now.
Growth came only once I realized I was to blame and took on my issues head-on.
Conclusion
It’s time to stop protecting yourself from failure and take responsibility for your actions.
If you want to remain who you are today and never grow as a person, then by all means, don’t bother.
But, if you want to continuously improve, and become a happier, better person, you will have to take on this challenge at one point.
It’s time to take control.
Thanks for reading