Smart Living Rule 1 – Take Full Responsibility For Your Life

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Do you accept full responsibility for all of your life?

Becoming personally accountable and responsible for the outcomes in your life is the bedrock of smart living.

You can’t even begin to live life to the fullest until you’ve accepted that you are the one that makes the decisions for how your life turns out.

Many people get caught up in blaming others, but this is fruitless and a complete waste of time. 

You must accept full responsibility for your life if you ever want it to amount to anything.

Why personal responsibility is so important to smart living

The only way that we can live life to the fullest is by moving past the things that are holding us back.  The weird thing is that all the things holding us back are inside us.

We are our own worst enemies, but we either fail to see it or won’t admit it.  Instead, we let fear, excuses and bad behavior get in the way of our best life.

We are exactly where we are in life because to one degree or another we have failed to accept responsibility and have therefore chosen to continue to be victims.  You are not a lifelong victim!

Now some of you are saying or thinking something like this:

“Stop right there!  So and so did such and such to me and I did not chose to have that happen.  What they did damaged me and therefore, I am a victim!  I had no control over the situation and if it had never happened then I would be a better person without so many problems.”

I acknowledge that bad things happen to good people.  I’ll also admit that these bad things create huge obstacles in our lives.  In addition, I’ll concede the point that we often don’t have any control over these happenings.

HOWEVER, and this is a big however, we choose our reaction to what happens to us. 

In the moment when something bad happens to you, you are a victim, but that is over as soon as the event is over.  Let it go and make the best of the rest of your life!

Being a victim becomes a crutch that is so very easy to lean on.

I can safely say that being a victim becomes a crutch because I’ve been there.  My parents divorced when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  It was the “big event” in a small series of painful occurrences.

I won’t go into the whole story because I’ve told it before.  However, I will say that for a long time I accepted that I was a victim of my parents’ divorce.

I used it as an excuse for how I acted well into adulthood.  If my relationships didn’t go well, I blamed it on the divorce.  If I was too introverted, mentally I excused myself because of the divorce.  If I lacked self-confidence, I told myself it was because the divorce wounded me.

I was quick to pull out this crutch anytime I needed it.  It was easy and very convenient.  It gave me an excuse for not having to face my own faults and weaknesses.

Whipping out this crutch in my mind became a deeply embedded habit.  I still struggle with it.  However, my deep desire to live a richer and more fulfilling life forces me to put the crutch away and accept responsibility for my life.

Accepting responsibility is acknowledging we are empowered to change

You have the power to change your life for the better or for the worse.  The power is in every decision you make.   Every single one!

If you acknowledge this, then you can start to improve your life.  Here are some examples:

• You can decide to get up an hour earlier every morning to read positive, empowering books that will change your outlook on life.
• You can decide to work harder to exceed your employer’s expectations so you’ll get noticed and get a raise or promotion.
• You can decide you are smart enough and disciplined enough to leave the job that you hate and start your own business.
• You can decide to stop spending money frivolously that piles up debt and start a budget to get control of your finances.

This list could go on and on.  We make tons of decisions every single day.  The point is that when you accept responsibility for your life, you can start making the right choices for a better life.

Assignment: Start making positive changes to improve your life!

Usually, getting started with something new is the hardest part.  That’s why with every smart living rule I’m going to give you some assignments to help you get started. 

Yes, I’m handing out homework, but this is the kind that will really make a significant difference in your life.

Here are the smart living assignments for this rule:

1.  Explore the whole idea of personal responsibility a little further

Take some time to mull this over in your mind a little more.  It takes awhile for it to really sink in.  If you are a bit intrigued, then don’t let that slip away.  Read the following articles to stimulate further thinking on the subject of taking personal responsibility for your life.

• 7 Ways to Take Personal Responsibility and Live a Better Life
• Accepting Personal Responsibility for Our Fulfillment in Life
• Taking Responsibility – There Is Always a Choice

Once you’ve read the articles, then come back and start the next assignment.

2.  Pick a specific area of your life that you want to change

In order to avoid becoming overwhelmed, it is usually best to focus your efforts in one area of your life in the beginning.  After you gain some strength and confidence at accepting responsibility for your circumstances, then you can branch out.

If you asked me, “Where do I start?”  I would say, “Where you are least happy, but start small.”

I would suggest where you are least happy because that’s where the biggest payoff is at and I would suggest starting small so you can experience some success early on.

For example, if you said your personal finances cause you the biggest heartache, then I would suggest that you start by building a small emergency fund.

Once you’ve identified the area of your life that you want to improve, follow this three-step process:

1. Educate yourself on the topic – For example, find a well-respected book on the subject and read it to learn correct behavior.
2. Set some goals – Write down 2 or 3 statements describing exactly what you want to accomplish by accepting responsibility and changing your behavior.
3. Make yourself accountable – Tell someone else what you want to improve and ask them to follow up with you to make sure you are doing it.

These three steps will ensure that you follow-through and improve your life!

Smart living starts with accepting personal responsibility!

If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last.  (Luke 6:48, The Message)

The choice is yours.  You can move on and ignore these words or you can make them the bedrock on which you build a better life.  What will it be?

Are you willing to accept personal responsibility and start smart living?

Follow this link to discover all the rules for Smart Living.

Photo by orvalrochefort