Taking Responsibility -Day 1 Self Improvement Bootcamp

This bootcamp is designed to help you gain insight into who you are, and help you determine the best approach to improve your life. Each day of the boot camp, we are going to cover one important area of your life, and we’ve found that the more active you are with the lessons, the greater the benefit that you’ll receive. Each lesson will build on the previous lesson. We start with some simple proven exercises and then build from there.

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.

Almost all of the experts talk about taking responsibility. They say to Stop blaming other people, but I have a slightly different view. I asked myself, Am I truly completely responsible for where I am today? 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.

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? Give yourself a few minutes to think about the key areas that you want to take more responsibility for. What are those key areas? You can post them under this video.

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. 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.

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” and 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? Think about the most responsible people that you know - Who are they and why are they so responsible? Please post them under this video.

Another idea is to take on small projects and see them through to completion. Take ownership of small projects first and then build on it. Then slowly increase the amount of responsibility you take on. The more we prove to ourselves that we can take on responsibility, the better we get at it.

Awareness is also critical. We need to make an extra effort to be aware when we are blaming others. This awareness alone will enable us to take greater responsibility. You might even want to go as far as to note every time that you blame somebody else, and right it down, or at least make a mental note.

Who are you blaming and what are you blaming them for?