If only I had known __________ fill in the blank
A lot of us stop ourselves with that phrase. It is a moment of grand regret where we say if only and we let whatever it was slip away because we have chosen not to see an alternative. It is our get out of jail card free. So let me throw an enticing question at you. What if you took complete responsibility for your life? What do you think might happen? Responsibility is accepting the consequence of every action and inaction in the world.
I can hear the objections now but I’m not responsible for world peace or pollution! Really? You think so? When was the last time you threw trash on the ground or donated time or money to a clean up project? You didn’t cause a war but have you spread peace in your job or family? We can’t be there for every ill in the world. But what have you done lately? Every day is an opportunity, have you taken any actions? I am pricking at your sense of internal responsibility
This is worth considering if you want to be leader. This is interesting if you want to motivate people to accomplish innovative breakthroughs and exceed expectations. The highest-performing people are deeply motivated and engaged and they are absolutely committed to success. You can deliver the most creative solutions and can overcome obstacles to success and it starts by accepting responsibility in the events of your life. This starts with a thought, the thought that you are viable, that you are capable of living.
Not sighing and shrugging living in regret. Remember that life is by its nature a changing, stressful phenomenon. We find it stressful because we like to live in the known, the predictable. In order to turn these stressful changes to an advantage, don’t insist on the past, i.e. what is already known. Insist in taking actions in the present. There is an old parable that a worried man is brought to the pearly gates. He is scared that St Peter will bring about every bad thing he has ever done and he won’t know what to say. But when he gets to the pearly gates St. Peter asks him “why weren’t you – you?”