Taking 100% Responsibility
I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions – they just seem to set me up for failure. However, this year, a group of friends and I were sitting around discussing what our theme for the year would be. I had been struggling with keeping up with life. Family, kids, business, friends…..it was all starting to get a little too hard, and I really just looked forward to sleeping for a whole day! I was easily frustrated, especially with my husband, and realised that I was starting to look externally for reasons for my problems.
As I sat with the girls on New Year’s Eve I knew that my constant feeling of frustration at other people and things was what I wanted to deal with. As I pondered this I was reminded of one of Jack Canfield’s principles, from his book (one of my all time favourites) The Success Principles. The very first principle of the book is to take 100% responsibility for your life.
“If you want to be successful, you have to take 100% responsibility for everything that you experience in your life. This includes the level of your achievements, the results you produce, the quality of your relationships, the state of your health and physical fitness, your income, your debts, your feelings—everything! This is not easy.” Jack Canfield
I realised that if I wanted to feel happier (because this ultimately the was crux of everything) then it was 100% up to me. I was responsible for how I reacted to any given situation. I was responsible for the type of work I did and when. I was responsible for doing the things I loved like reading and planning our home renovations. It was 100% my responsibility to live my own life.
Why Am I Talking About This on The Concierge Society?
I’ve been reflecting on what makes a business successful, and more importantly, what makes a person, a business owner successful. I have created The Concierge Society, as well as The Concierge Secret Society, to help you become successful personal concierge business owners. I’m interested in finding out the best way to help you get there.
Now success looks different to everyone. I strongly believe you need to get really clear on what success means to you first, not what you think it’s supposed to look like or what it looks like to others. However, how you get there, how you find your success, is ultimately the same for everyone. Getting the success you are seeking all comes down to taking 100% responsibility for your life.
What do I mean by taking 100% responsibility? I can write 100’s of blog posts, create private forums, resources and templates, all available for you to access. However, if you don’t read the posts, visit the forums, download the templates, or implement the things you are learning, then there is no more I or The Concierge Society can do. At this point, it is completely up to you to take advantage of all of these resources at your fingertips. I can do no more.
How I’ve Tried to Become 100% Responsible
Below are a list of some of the things I’ve been trying to focus on in my pursuit of 100% responsibility. Let me be clear, I’m not nailing all of these all the time, but these are the things that I have found important to me.
- Managing my reactions when hearing what I feel is criticism
- Doing the dishes even when I don’t feel like it
- Making my bed
- Getting my inbox to zero
- Packing up the toys on the floor before going to bed
- Pressing ‘publish’ on my blog posts on a regular basis
- Sharing goals publicly so I have to achieve them
How Can You Become 100% Responsible?
To try to get your brain ticking over, here are some other ideas that might resonate personally with you.
- Go to the networking event even when you don’t feel like it
- Enter your income and expenses into your accounting system daily or weekly
- Send an email to everyone whose business card you collect
- Say yes even though you’re frightened
- Do what you’ve been putting off
- Accept that your website doesn’t have to be perfect before you launch it
- Write your to do list every night before bed
- Eat one frog every day (I’ll write about this in the future but for now, check out this book)
So, Are You Taking 100% Responsibility?
I do believe that, with focus, you can reach the point where you feel you are taking 100% responsibility for your life. I’m certainly not there yet, but I do feel I’m well on the way. How about you? Are you taking responsibility? I wonder how much resistance you’ve felt whilst reading this article? What’s coming up for you? What fears or “yeh, but’s” are coming into your head? These are exactly the things you need to pinpoint and listen to.
This is one of my favourite quotes and perfectly sums up why I’m asking you to take notice of your resistance.
How Are You Going To Start Taking 100% Responsibility?
I’d love to hear what you believe is going to be most important to your success. Share your plans for taking 100% responsibility in the comments below, or what has worked for you in the past. We could all use some inspiration!
Abbie Allen is the founder of The Concierge Society, as well as Lifestyle Elements and le Porter. She started Lifestyle Elements in 2004 at the age of 23 and now operates internationally from her head office in Adelaide, South Australia. She was the 2014 Institute of Concierge and Lifestyle Managers Association Golden Key Award winner, as well as a finalist in the South Australia Telstra Business Women’s Awards in 2012. She works with her husband Tim, and they have three daughters. If you handed Abbie a brand new book, a glass of red wine and some chocolate, plus the time to enjoy it, you would have made her day! Have you joined our free private community? Click here now!