Let’s get real for a minute, do you take responsibility for your life? For ALL areas of your life, the good and the not so good parts?
Everyone wants to feel happy and fulfilled, but not everyone takes responsibility for feeling like that. Some people won’t even take responsibility for their failures. But if you want to feel happy and fulfilled then you must take responsibility for your life, all of your life, the successes and the failures.
It’s easy to believe that life just happens to us or to blame someone else when things don’t go the way we hoped but that is a very disempowering belief that will keep you stuck exactly where you are right now.
You may not have any control over some of the events in your life but you have full control of your response and it’s your response to the event that dictates the outcome.
A happy, fulfilled life doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by choosing to take responsibility and choosing how you respond to the situations you find yourself in.
Here are 8 ways you can take responsibility for your life
1 | Stop blaming others.
Were your parent’s good parents? Maybe not. maybe they didn’t learn how to be a good parent from their parents? Is your boss a di*k? Maybe. There are lots of things in life that aren’t your fault but you can still control your response. No one else is going to do it for you. If you’re honest with yourself, you will have made bad choices too that also affected others.
We’re all human so stop blaming other people and start taking responsibility for how you respond instead. For example, my Mum can be quite judgemental, as I write this the UK is on lockdown so my roots need doing. My Mum decided to comment on how bad they are. I could get upset and feel self-conscious and blame my Mum for how I feel. Or I could choose a different response. I chose to forgive my Mum for being insensitive and I chose to be grateful that I have blonde hair as the grey would be more noticeable if I had dark hair
2 | Learn from your mistakes.
Your mistakes are yours. I don’t even think it’s helpful to think of them as mistakes, I prefer to think of them as feedback. Learning from things that don’t go to plan is an incredibly empowering way to take responsibility for your life and means you can stop similar things from happening in the future.
3 |Set goals.
Setting goals is taking responsibility for your future. You’re choosing the life you want to live and experience. In addition, setting goals also implies that you’re going to work toward them.
4 | Schedule your time.
How you choose to spend your time each day is the most important decision you can make that day. How you choose to spend your time determines your future. Take responsibility for your life by choosing to utilise your time wisely.
5 | Recognise your unhelpful thoughts
Your thoughts impact your actions. If you want to take responsibility for your life, it’s necessary to manage your thoughts. We all have self limiting beliefs and disempowering thoughts and when we recognise them we can replace them with empowering thoughts and beliefs
6 |Accept the idea that no one is coming to save you.
You’re not a child anymore and no-one is going to care about your life more than you do. You can’t wait for someone to save you. Do whatever it takes to make sure you live a happy and fulfilled life.
7 | Acknowledge your flaws.
You have plenty of flaws, we all do, and that’s okay. Failing to recognise them only leads to “failure”. However, when you work on fixing those flaws as best you can so that you continuously improve the results you get.
8 | Acknowledge your strengths.
It’s just as important to realise your strengths and use them to your advantage. Don’t be shy about them or down play them. Don’t worry about putting yourself in the spotlight or wonder if others will think you are big headed. Acknowledging and sharing your strengths makes you a role model and will give others the confidence to do the same.
You must take responsibility for your life if you want to be happy and fulfilled. You have to be willing to take responsibility for your successes, failures, flaws, and strengths. Be responsible for your outcomes. Learn from your mistakes. Your life is in your hands, only you have the capacity to change it!
