One of the characteristics of high-achieving individuals is their commitment to accept personal responsibility for everything that happens to them. They refuse to be victims of circumstances and other people. Even when it appears they have little or no control over an outcome, they still believe there is something they could have done to alter the result. This belief leads them to come up with potential strategies and solutions that will lessen the chances of reoccurrence or at least minimize the negative outcome if unavoidable.
Contrast this with the mindset of someone who chooses the victim mentality when faced with obstacles, challenges, and loss. They believe that bad things always happen to them undeservedly. They might even consider themselves unlucky. They focus on what they don’t have rather than what they do have. They play the blame game. It’s always someone or something’s fault and they are prepared to explain it. Ironically, they spend their energy and creativity explaining what happened rather than figuring out how to avoid it next time.
Here are 3 reasons why accepting personal responsibility will improve your results and help you realize more of your true potential.
First, accepting personal responsibility firmly establishes that you are in control. Only if you feel you are in control will you attempt to influence results and outcomes. New employees who are not willing to take personal responsibility blame their manager for not providing them with adequate resources and training. Unfortunately, that habit leads to a predictable outcome. As a new employee, it’s your responsibility to learn what you need to learn. Take advantage of all the resources. Ask questions of those who have more experience and who appear to be succeeding. Many skills can be learned online from resources such as YouTube.
Second, accepting personal responsibility unleashes your creativity. Grant Cardone in his book The 10 X Rule gives an illustration about losing power during a storm and being unable to get online for 3 days. He could have blamed it on the power company or the local municipality, but instead, he took responsibility. Taking responsibility led to him deciding to add a backup generator.
Many of the world’s top entrepreneurs started out by trying to scratch their own itch. They had a problem that they decided to take responsibility for and figured out how to solve it. That is creativity!
Third, accepting personal responsibility leads to growth. I had a mentor one time who said whenever you have a problem, write down 5 reasons you are glad you have it. Behind each of those reasons are the seeds of success. We teach kids to take responsibility for their actions in hopes that they will learn valuable lessons for the future. Somehow, as adults in the workplace, we can forget that this is how we grow.
Attitudes are simply our habits of thinking. Accepting personal responsibility is a habit of thinking that will help you be successful in all areas of life. Become aware of how you are doing with accepting personal responsibility. Perhaps it is situation-dependent for you and not necessarily your automatic response always. As you identify areas of your life where you need to take more responsibility personally, make it your practice to do so. You will find yourself feeling more confident as you gain control, more creative in finding solutions, and experiencing personal growth that you can be proud of.
Have you considered the value of a career coach to help you build your awareness of taking personal responsibility? Connect with me if you would like to discuss the possibilities and advantages.