Whether we are talking about competitive gaming or your professional non-gaming career there is one common factor that can impede your success. You! In achieving your goals the most important trait you can possess is the ability to take personal responsibility for your actions and decisions. Here is why:
Taking responsibility takes power away from circumstance and returns it to you.
-
- How many of your problems are the direct result of crimes committed against you, or tragedy? Compare that to the number of problems that are a direct result of your decisions.
- If you find that most of your problems are your fault, that’s amazing! That means that each of those things is something that you have 100% control over.
-
- You cannot always fix, but you can always build. You may realize that you have damaged relationships or lost opportunities and you cannot undo the damage. But now with what you know you understand how to build new relationships and create new opportunities. Own that responsibility and succeed.
Not taking responsibility surrenders power to circumstance.
-
- If external forces are to blame for your failures than they are also the cause of your successes. By living this way, you are simply a leaf in the wind with no control over your life. How is it that success is a matter of merit but failure is not?
- Bad luck exists. Bad people exist. You cannot control the rain on game day or the person who spread the rumor. But you can control how you face adversity.
The Danger of Regret
-
- Understandably, when you realize how much power you have or had you may feel angry at your past self for all of his or her foolishness.
- Regret is anger with the self. If you must regret, use it to learn from the specific mistakes that were made to ensure you have less regret in the future. Be sure to honestly identify what was and was not your fault. Forgive yourself for the things that were your fault. Honest mistakes are made all the time.
- Anger is rejecting reality. You cannot get angry if you do not have an idea of how things “should” be. You aren’t entitled to a great hand of cards. You’re only power is over your own vessel in the present and since the present is forever, you’re pretty powerful.
Lay the Foundation
Developing a sense of personal responsibility a key component to developing a higher quality of life. It’s as if you’ve given yourself a promotion in your life. You’re responsible for more, that’s for sure, but the pay is higher and the work is more meaningful.
