8.1.5 Taking 100% Responsibility for All You Do

Many live life in reaction to the events and circumstances that surround them. People let their environment or circumstances rule what they do and how they think, feel, and act.   Maybe you had a tough upbringing, with parents who didn’t teach you the lessons you needed to learn to create a healthy life. Maybe your spouse has been holding you back by dismissing your ambitions or attacking your self-esteem. Or maybe government cuts or lay-offs resulted in the loss of your job, business or career.  

You will be tempted to give up responsibility and blame the external forces, and some of those forces can be very painful.  However, if this is the case it’s time to let them go, because the reality is that the only thing you have control over in this life is you. Maybe you are taking responsibility for the choices and decisions other people make.  Neither of these approaches allows you to operate from your purpose.

You are responsible for your life, no one else is. You are accountable for all your actions in this life and the sooner you stop wasting energy on blaming other people or events for your circumstances, the sooner you reclaim control of your life, because until you do so you are allowing others to control it through the influences you permit to affect you. A simple example …  if you are in a traffic jam and are late for an appointment, you can take the position of it not being your fault and giving all sorts of reasons, and you may even communicate your anger at what happened, or you can own it and apologize for being late (explaining about the traffic then becomes an explanation, not an excuse).   

The more you take control, the easier it becomes to take personal responsibility. As you learn to take control you will find you are the first to forgive in a situation, the first to admit your mistakes, the first to show kindness to another, etc., and you will create the energy, encouragement and example for others to follow.  Things happen that you can’t control – however, you can always control your response.

For example, if you let the fear of failure rule you and avoid it at all cost, then you won’t succeed, because failure is the food that nurtures success.  Failure can be a detour not a dead-end, a temporary setback not a residence, a learning experience, not a person.   When you try something new you take a risk, and taking a risk sets you up for the possibility of failure.  In order for you to grow through your mistakes, own them, correct them and move forward.   It is important to remember that failure is a growth process not a status, an event not a person.

What you accomplish is an accumulation of what you do in the minutes of each day. No task is too unworthy to do well. Many people think the tasks they have to do are not worth their time, that they are too good for those tasks and can get easily discouraged, rather than taking responsibility for each task and applying commitment. There are no small parts—only small actors.   Jesus the master of the universe washed His disciple’s feet to demonstrate this.

Remember Joseph in the book of Genesis, and see how God’s favour moved with him throughout the stages of his life – in the pit as a slave, as a servant in Potiphar’s house, in gaol for no crime – at the various stages of life when he had challenges, he never complained but always put his best foot forward and trusted that God would redeem him from the situation.

By living in this way you choose to be responsible for all the things you do, say, intend, think and omit.  In doing this you allow others to make their choices and take responsibility for their decisions.  You cannot take responsibility for anyone else’s decisions and try to solve the problems for them, and you will find that usually they don’t thank you for it if you do.

Your purpose is your responsibility.   As you operate from this perspective your purpose becomes clearer.

“I wonder how much of what weighs me down is not mine
to carry.” 

– Aditi 

Questions

• What areas in your life do you find you are not taking responsibility for?
• What areas are you feeling responsible for, around what other people are doing and which is not your concern?