Full Responsibility
One of the more helpful habits I’ve developed is taking responsibility for everything in my life. This is a strong contrast to the average victim / “things happen to me” mentality that a lot of people have.
Basically I assume that anything “bad” that happens in my life is a direct result of actions I took. If I lose money in the stock market I don’t think, “Oh man… I’m so unlucky… the stocks went down.”
Instead I think, “I bought those stocks and I lost money because of a decision I made.”
I even take responsibility for other people’s actions as they affect me. If a girl I’m dating goes nuts and does something stupid I tend to assume that it was actions I took that caused her to do that.
That doesn’t mean that she couldn’t have taken responsibility for my bad actions and reacted better, but it does mean that I recognize my part in everything and assume that even if I’m only 10% responsible, there was probably something I could have done to get the outcome I wanted.
If I approach a girl and it goes badly, it’s because my approach wasn’t good enough, not because of some problem with her.
I do this because I want to constantly critically think about decisions I’ve made and actions I’ve taken and learn from them. It also promotes taking an active role in one’s life. My failures are my responsibility as are my successes. My future is in my hands alone.
I’m a strong believer that everyone gets what they deserve, at least in the first world where we have mechanisms for upwards mobility. You reap what you sow.
It doesn’t work in EVERY single case because of variance, but the people that take more responsibility and action tend to get what they’re going for. The people that think everything HAPPENS to them tend to never get what they want.
Not always, of course, but 90+% of the time.
At the same time, I never feel bad about decisions I’ve made. There’s no point. The best thing that can be done is to analyze the mistake and use that info for future decision making.
Life is actually easier when you take responsibility because it helps make the right course of action clear.
“My site isn’t popular enough. What can I do to make it more popular?”
is a lot more empowering than:
“WTF? My site is awesome. Why aren’t people visiting?”
Right?
I don’t actually think I’m doing this topic justice. It’s hard to articulate.
(8 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
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March 26th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Interesting approach. I haven’t fully assimilated the idea of taking complete responsibility for other people’s actions yet myself. You might not have intended it, but that’s a very subjective reality perspective. It does seem like a very empowering approach.
“At the same time, I never feel bad about decisions I’ve made. There’s no point. The best thing that can be done is to analyze the mistake and use that info for future decision making.”
I logically get that, and try to do it, but sometimes it’s hard for me not to beat myself up for bad decisions I’ve made.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I think you did a good job.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
This is similar to a Tony Robbins approach that he calls “asking empowering questions”. People tend to ask disempowering questions and get appropriate results.
Also reminds me of the difference between problem solvers and problem sympathizers. Did you ever see the “White Men Can’t Jump”? There was a scene between Woody Harrelson and Rosie Perez where she says she’s thirsty and he gets her a glass of water. She gets upset at him because she just wanted sympathy and he wanted to solve her thirst.
Here’s the transcript. Scroll down to “thirsty”
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/w/white-men-cant-jump-script.html
March 28th, 2008 at 10:38 am
This philosophy is right on. All too often, people get caught up in blaming other people or events for their problems rather than owning up for their own decision making. Taking “full responsibility” for yourself, as well as learning from any reprocussions from your decisions, I think, directly correlates to a happier overall life-outlook!
April 1st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Hey Tynan,
I really loved this post. This philosophy of Personal Responsibility for EVERYTHING is very empowering and causes a lot of desire for growth!
Sometimes, for sure, it is weird to take responsibility for things like a girl having a boyfriend… but really you’re taking responsibility for YOUR actions up to that point which CAUSED her to TELL YOU she had a boyfriend. This last point has happened a few times recently in my life, and I’ve begun applying the strategies from your book to deal with it.
Not sure if you’ve read it, but Steve Pavlina’s post about this, he calls it Subjective Reality. It aligns very well with this, and he takes it a step further: you are 100% responsible for EVERYTHING in your life. Including stories you see on the news. WTF?
Alex
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:20 am
Amen! If only more people would adopt this mindset, I think we’d have a much better country. I’ve been on this kick for a good many years now. I make decisions, and I have to live with the results they bring, good or bad. Good: do it again. Bad: rethink and try something else. So very simple, yet so impossible to convince others who are mired in the victim mentality.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I stumbled upon this post and was instantly hit by that brief flash of annoyance you get when you realize you’re not really that original after all. Gotta love that.
But yeah, this is pretty much how I live, and I totally agree with you. I’m not sure when I started thinking like this, but it’s done nothing but good things for me thus far. Like you, I’m having trouble doing it justice, but you really touched on the core of it with the “At the same time, I never feel bad about decisions I’ve made” point. Full responsibility, no regrets. It just…makes sense. Hats off.