Take Responsibility for your Success

As much as I hate to admit that there are faults with our generation, it would definitely be fair to say that we are a “it’s not my fault generation”. We think we’re entitled to everything and we want to blame everyone else when we don’t get what we want.

Chances are good that you will never achieve everything that you want to achieve in your life. In fact, I've suggest in my presentations and articles that if you do achieve everything, you’re doing something wrong. Failure is almost a certainty at some point. If you’re never failing, you’re not setting your sights high enough. Failure is ok. What is NOT ok is EXPECTING success without doing anything to make it happen.

How many times have you heard someone say something like, “I hate my life”; “My life is so unfair”, “My boss is such a jerk” etc etc? How many times has the person saying things like that, been you? The number of people who walk around complaining about how unfair life is seems to grow continuously, and yet it seems that those who really have something to complain about are rarely among them. And those who achieve the greatest success in life are never among them.

It can be easy to fall into the excuse trap. First you blame a lack of tie for not getting an assignment done, then you’re excusing a poor performance on not feeling your best. Pretty soon nothing is ever your screw up.

What’s wrong with that? If you are content to always be a follower, always be mediocre, always be less than everything you can be, then there’s nothing wrong with it. But if you want to be the best that you can be, it’s essential that you take responsibility for your life. You have to be willing to own your successes and that means MAKKING IT HAPPEN.

I see so many otherwise successful people prevent themselves from even greater success because they are constantly making excuses for themselves. They can’t achieve this goal because they don’t have the right education. They can’t achieve that objective because they don’t have enough money. Or they complain because this or that didn't come their way even though they really "deserve it".

The truth is the only reason that we don’t achieve any goal is that we aren’t willing to do what it takes. We just plain don’t want it bad enough. We aren’t willing to make the commitment to do x or y or give up a or b in order to get it done. When you cut away all the crap, is that what it comes down to?


In Black & White
(This is an addition to the blog. A practical section to help you to apply what you've read. I hope you like it.)
Make a list of the things that you want to accomplish that you “haven’t gotten around to yet”. Now go through that list and figure out WHY you haven’t done each of those things (your reasons might be lack of money, lack of resources, lack of time etc) Now go through your list of excuses (and that’s all they are is excuses) again and find a solution for each of them.

By finding solutions to each of your excuses you will eliminate any reason you might have to put off your dreams for one day longer.

Have a great week.

As always, I love to hear your thoughts and reactions to what you read here so please let me know what you think by adding your own post.

What if you only had a year to live?

Today's title is a question that I often use to start my presentations. I use it because I think it's very effective in getting us to think about what we really want to be doing with our lives.

Far too often, we can get caught up in the busy-ness of life and let the things that really matter to us go by the wayside. It can happen without us even realizing it and then before you know it, another year has gone by and you still haven't done anything to get yourself closer to your goals.

Some people who have survived a life-threatening situation like I have, will tell you that you should "live every day like it's your last day". I understand where that feeling comes from, but I don't agree with their suggestion. If we all tried to live every day like it was our last day, the world would be a dangerous place to be (think about all of the skydivers, wreckless drivers etc).

Don't live every day like it's your last day, just LIVE every day. Say "I love you" to the people who care about you, start working on that project you've been thinking about, call a friend you haven't spoken to in a while. It's never too early and its never too late, to start to live life to the fullest.

So what would you do if you only had a year to live?
Let me know what you'd do. I look forward to hearing your answers, and I encourage you to make this more than a theoretical excercise. Go ahead and start actually LIVING that way! You'll be surprised how your life will change!

Where I've Been Lately:
I had the pleasure to speak to Freedom55 Financial last week. They were a great group of about 100 financial advisors who were having a professional development day. I love speaking to these people because, much like me, they are positive, motivated and eager to improve themselves and the world around them. What a great group to surround yourself with!

Thanks Freedom55!