Change Your Response and Achieve Success: Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life

The most important Success Principle and the one that all of success is based on is – Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life.

Many people today think that just because they have been born, they are “entitled” to a great life.

That somehow someone else is responsible for giving them the life of their dreams.

If they don’t receive that life, it is someone or something else’s fault – their parents, teachers, brothers, sisters, school, their bosses or the economy. But one thing we know is that there is only one person who can deliver to you the life of your dreams – YOU!!

You are the architect of your own life… your results at school, your health, your income, relationships….your attitude and behavior – all of them are up to you.

How then do we learn to take 100% responsibility?

There are three actions to take –

1. Change the images you visualize in your mind, the thoughts you think and what you do. We are in control of all 3 of these aspects of our life. If you visualise, think, say or do negative things, that is what you will receive. Discipline yourself to only think, say and do uplifting and positive things.

Being positive makes one happier which research has shown makes you more creative and motivated and opens the learning centres of your brain.

2. Change the outcomes you wish to have by changing your response to events.
People blame the events for their predicaments in life.

The events are those things that are out of your control, like the economy, the job market, your education, who your parents are etc.

A beautiful example of changing your response is the young Free State girl who was raped by her cousin and saw her father murder her mother. Her response could have been one of hate, depression, substance abuse or revenge. Instead she chose to do what would have made her mother proud.

She decided to become a doctor and put everything into her studies attaining over 90% for maths and for life sciences.

She is now studying to be a doctor at Free State University!!

She changed her outcome by changing her response to the terrible events that happened to her.

3. Taking 100% responsibility means no more blaming, complaining or making excuses.
There is no good that comes out of blaming, complaining and making excuses other than to focus your mind on the negative.

Rather evaluate your challenges and circumstances and work to change them. Being positive makes one happier which research has shown makes you more creative and motivated and opens the learning centres of your brain.

In summary, remember you only have control over three things that you can control in your life — the thoughts you think, the images you visualise, and the actions you take. And how you use those three things determines everything you experience. So, if you don’t like what you are experiencing and what you are producing as results in your life, you have to change your mental, visual and behavioral response to the events that occur in your life and no more blaming, complaining and making excuses. Remember this, nothing will change for the better until you do.

Fraser Carey is a professional speaker on Success Principles and Workplace Happiness and is presently writing a series of articles based on Success Principles by Jack Canfield.