SelfGrowth.com: The Magic Power of Taking Responsibility

 [SelfGrowth.com](  Self Improvement Newsletter Improve Your Life Today!  5/8/17 issue: The Magic Power of Taking Responsibility Email for: {EMAIL} * Self Improvement and Personal Growth Weekly Newsletter * Issue #958, Week of May 8-9, 2017 Publisher: David Riklan - []( In this issue: -- Quotes of the Week -- Article:The Magic Power of Taking Responsibility - By David Riklan -- How to Advertise in the Self Improvement Newsletter -- How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe from this Newsletter ------------------------------------------------------------ *** Quotes of the Week *** ------------------------------------------------------------ The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence. - John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. - Vernon Sanders Law, 1930-present Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. - Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983 ------------------------------------------------------------ *** ARTICLE: The Magic Power of Taking Responsibility - By David Riklan *** ------------------------------------------------------------ Experience has taught me that the first step to consciously making any change in your life is to first "take responsibility" for your life or at least take responsibility for that part of it. Dr. Phil wrote a book called Life Strategies in which he talks about taking responsibility. On his TV show and in his book, he says, "You create your own experience. Acknowledge and accept responsibility for your life." Almost all of the experts talk about taking responsibility. They say to STOP BLAMING other people, but I have a slightly different view. WHO IS REALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR LIFE? I asked myself, "Am I truly, completely responsible for where I am today?" Think about it. We were raised by our parents, and taught by our teachers, friends, and the media. I personally watched about 500 hours of Friends, Seinfeld, American Idol, and most recently, House and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Didn't these things influence me? In truth, I believe that all of these things have had a tremendous impact on where we are today. But when I think about taking responsibility, the question for me is NOT "Who is responsible for your current situation?" BUT................ WHO WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for where you'll be TOMORROW?" The answer for each of us has to be, "I will." Can we really give up this responsibility? Does anybody else want it? I don't think so. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WINNING I want to share with you a quote that brings home this point for me. It's from Denis Waitley, the author of The Psychology of Winning. He said, "There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." Personally, I went with the second option. I took responsibility for changing my conditions. AN EXERCISE FOR CHANGE One of the exercises that I use and I recommend everybody use is starting with a list. Take a few minutes and think about the areas of your life that you are willing to take more responsibility for. They should be areas that you are serious about. They could be in your career, family, personal life, social life, fitness, health or intellectual pursuits. Areas could include your spiritual life, leisure time, community involvement or a financial area...just about anything. What areas do you want to take more responsibility for? Give yourself a few minutes to think about the key areas that you want to take more responsibility for. What are those key areas? Now write them down and read them. (***HINT: That's where the magic power comes from. If you write it and read it, you can own it and take responsibility for it.) Most psychologists will tell you that your behavior is impacted by three factors: genetics, environment, and free will. We don't have a lot of control over our genetics, at least not yet, and we can't always control our environment, so all that's left is free will. This free will enables us to take responsibility for our lives. I think that most of us know that they're supposed to take responsibility, but it's not always easy. I know that it's easy to blame your background, your boss, your schooling, politicians, your wife, your husband or your mother, but until we accept responsibility, we're not going to make progress. So here we are. We all know we're supposed to do it, but most of us aren't doing it in every area of our life. So, where do we go? Back to experts. After reviewing material from countless experts, I came up with a few specific suggestions to help everybody in that area. THE POWER OF MODELING I am a strong believer in the concept of modeling. By modeling, I mean finding other people who are doing something well and copying or modeling their behavior. So, I would recommend that you look around at the people that you know or "know of," find the most responsible person you know, and ask for help or model their behavior. Find out what they're doing. Who are the most responsible people that you know? Why are they so responsible? Now write them down and read them. (***REMINDER: That's where the magic power comes from. If you write it and read it, you can own it and take responsibility for it.) THE POWER OF TAKING ON SMALL PROJECTS ** To read the full article, [go here.](  ============================================= *** How to Advertise in the Self Improvement Newsletter *** To advertise your website or product to our Self Improvement Newsletter audience, go to [( To submit articles or other information, please send us an email at editors@selfgrowth.com, or visit our Article Submission form at [(   --------------------------------------------------- *** How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe from this Newsletter*** --------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to our newsletter, please go to our Subscriptions Page at [( To unsubscribe or update your information, go here: [Manage Preferences]( Copyright (C) 2017 by Self Improvement Online, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter only in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged. 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