Food for Thought
***** *100% RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVERYTHING* *****
As I mentioned in the Introduction, when I was only one year out of graduate school, I had the good fortune to work for W. Clement Stone. He was a self-made multimillionaire worth $600 million at the time. Stone was also America’s premier success guru. He was the publisher of Success Magazine, author of 'The Success System That Never Fails', and coauthor with Napoleon Hill of 'Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude'.
When I was completing my first week’s orientation, Mr. Stone asked me if I took 100% responsibility for my life.
“I think so,” I responded.
“This is a yes or no question, young man. You either do or you don’t.”
“Well, I guess I’m not sure.”
“Have you ever blamed anyone for any circumstance in your life? Have you ever complained about anything?”
“Uh . . . yeah . . . I guess I have.”
“Don’t guess. Think.”
“Yes, I have.”
“Okay, then. That means you don’t take one hundred percent responsibility for your life. Taking 100% responsibility means you acknowledge that you create everything that happens to you. It means you understand that you are the cause of all of your experiences. If you want to be really successful, and I know you do, then you will have to give up blaming and complaining and take total responsibility for your life—that means all your results, both your successes and your failures. That is the prerequisite for creating a life of success. It is only by acknowledging that you have created everything up until now that you can take charge of creating the future you want.
“You see, Jack, if you realize that you have created your current conditions, then you can uncreate them and re-create them at will. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Are you willing to take one hundred percent responsibility for your life?”
“Yes, sir, I am!” And I did.
*YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP ALL YOUR EXCUSES*
"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses" - GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER {Chemist who discovered over 325 uses for the peanut}
If you want to create the life of your dreams, then you are going to have to take 100% responsibility for your life as well. That means giving up all your excuses, all your victim stories, all the reasons why you can’t and why you haven’t up until now, and all your blaming of outside circumstances. You have to give them all up forever. You have to take the position that you have always had the power to make it different, to get it right, to produce the desired result. For whatever reason—ignorance, lack of awareness, fear, needing to be right, the need to feel safe—you chose not to exercise that power. Who knows why? It doesn’t matter. The past is the past. All that matters now is that from this point forward you choose—that’s right, it’s a choice—to act as if you are 100% responsible for everything that does or doesn’t happen to you. If something doesn’t turn out as planned, you will ask yourself, How did I create that? What was I thinking? What were my beliefs? What did I say or not say? What did I do or not do to create that result? How did I get the other person to act that way? What do I need to do differently next time to get the result I want?
*Excerpt from Jack Canfield's bestseller "The Success Principles {How to get from where you are to where you want to be}" .*
As I mentioned in the Introduction, when I was only one year out of graduate school, I had the good fortune to work for W. Clement Stone. He was a self-made multimillionaire worth $600 million at the time. Stone was also America’s premier success guru. He was the publisher of Success Magazine, author of 'The Success System That Never Fails', and coauthor with Napoleon Hill of 'Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude'.
When I was completing my first week’s orientation, Mr. Stone asked me if I took 100% responsibility for my life.
“I think so,” I responded.
“This is a yes or no question, young man. You either do or you don’t.”
“Well, I guess I’m not sure.”
“Have you ever blamed anyone for any circumstance in your life? Have you ever complained about anything?”
“Uh . . . yeah . . . I guess I have.”
“Don’t guess. Think.”
“Yes, I have.”
“Okay, then. That means you don’t take one hundred percent responsibility for your life. Taking 100% responsibility means you acknowledge that you create everything that happens to you. It means you understand that you are the cause of all of your experiences. If you want to be really successful, and I know you do, then you will have to give up blaming and complaining and take total responsibility for your life—that means all your results, both your successes and your failures. That is the prerequisite for creating a life of success. It is only by acknowledging that you have created everything up until now that you can take charge of creating the future you want.
“You see, Jack, if you realize that you have created your current conditions, then you can uncreate them and re-create them at will. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Are you willing to take one hundred percent responsibility for your life?”
“Yes, sir, I am!” And I did.
*YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP ALL YOUR EXCUSES*
"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses" - GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER {Chemist who discovered over 325 uses for the peanut}
If you want to create the life of your dreams, then you are going to have to take 100% responsibility for your life as well. That means giving up all your excuses, all your victim stories, all the reasons why you can’t and why you haven’t up until now, and all your blaming of outside circumstances. You have to give them all up forever. You have to take the position that you have always had the power to make it different, to get it right, to produce the desired result. For whatever reason—ignorance, lack of awareness, fear, needing to be right, the need to feel safe—you chose not to exercise that power. Who knows why? It doesn’t matter. The past is the past. All that matters now is that from this point forward you choose—that’s right, it’s a choice—to act as if you are 100% responsible for everything that does or doesn’t happen to you. If something doesn’t turn out as planned, you will ask yourself, How did I create that? What was I thinking? What were my beliefs? What did I say or not say? What did I do or not do to create that result? How did I get the other person to act that way? What do I need to do differently next time to get the result I want?
*Excerpt from Jack Canfield's bestseller "The Success Principles {How to get from where you are to where you want to be}" .*
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