The world seems to be looking for someone to blame for their bad choices. Everybody wants to pass the buck. Everybody is a victim. Everybody wants to find out who is responsible for this or the other, seldom thinking of what they themselves are responsible for.
The problem with asking who’s responsible is that it makes us feel out of control, victims of others or of circumstances. In reality, as an adult, and as a leader, you have the responsibility to. . .
- be and to choose;
- decide how you will react to people or happenings;
- take responsibility for your actions (or for not acting), and decisions.
In a resent post about this same subject, Seth Godin poses some very good questions:
Who gets to determine how we react (or respond) to the things that happen to us?
Who chooses which media we consume?
Who gets to decide what we start, and what we quit?
Who decides what sort of learning to invest in (or not)?
Who gets to look for someone to blame?
You are the one responsible. You have the responsibility to choose! Freedom of choice is a right we all have and nobody can take away from us. You can respond to others and to your circumstances in whichever way you choose. Think about Victor Frankl. Put yourself in his shoes.
The year is 1945. You are in Auschwitz, Germany, imprisoned in a concentration camp whose horror defies description. Your entire family has been killed. You are a Jewish psychiatrist named Viktor Frankl. The guards have stripped you, beaten you, starved you, and deprived you of sleep for no other reason than your race. And yet, you live on, determined to somehow create meaning out of the horror. As you are experiencing this hell on earth you come to an incredible understanding:
The guards can torture you, but you have the power to respond to them however you choose. In a place of no freedom, you still have the freedom of choice.
They can beat you, but they can’t take away your will to live.
They can strip you, but you can clothe yourself with mental power beyond their reach.
They can starve you, but you can feast on your dreams of the future.
Victor Frankl imagined himself at a university pulpit, teaching the future generation about the ultimate freedom, the freedom to choose how you respond to life. He was determined to live to tell his story so that never again would a human being be allowed to cause such suffering as he had endured.
If those prison guards, who had power over the camp and every prisoner inside, couldn’t make Victor Frankl angry or discouraged, think how your life can change if you understand and apply this concept:
- You would no longer blame others.
- You wouldn’t say, “You make me so angry” because you can choose to be in control of your emotions.
- You would not blame your circumstances or the weather for anything.
This is an incredible liberating principle. It can also be a scary one. This means that you and only you alone own your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. Sure, it’s easier to blame someone else for mistakes, shortcomings, or bad things. But when you take responsibility for you, you and your business will grow in amazing ways.
Remember. . .
Who’s responsible? YOU ARE!!
Are you taking responsibility for your own development? I can help you sharpen your leadership skills. To find out how, click here to claim a complementary discovery session with me.