Certain fundamental truths seem to stand the test of time regardless of circumstance.
One of these fundamental truths is the fact that victims never win.
Excuses, rationalisation, blame and finger-pointing are the foundational cornerstones of a victim mindset. These are the single greatest killers to a life of promise and success. Nothing limits a person more than the thought that it is someone else’s fault; there is nothing they can do, or they are powerless to change things.
Indeed bad things will happen in life. Circumstances will create challenges. People will say and do things that will hurt us. At one time or another, these things will happen to everyone in one form or another. It is the unfortunate reality of life.
Spending too much time hesitating, pondering, or beating oneself up over the bad things will get a person nowhere. It will just make them unhappy. Accept that it is the truth that bad things happen to everyone, not just us.
Close to two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote: “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Throughout history, there are thousands of examples of great things that come from horrible situations simply because someone reacted to them differently.
Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine because more than half a million people became paralysed and died from the virus every year. Out of devastation came something that has saved millions of lives.
Mary Kay Ash started a billion-dollar company because she was passed over for a promotion by her boss. She decided that rather than be a victim, she wanted to control her destiny, and she created a company that has helped hundreds of thousands of people do the same. Out of Mary Kay’s “misfortune” came her success.
John Hetrick invented the airbag after an auto accident with his wife and seven-year-old daughter. This device saved more than fifteen thousand lives in just the first twenty years after installing automobiles. Out of John’s trouble came his inspiration to help save others.
These are but a few examples of the countless times that people have taken their ‘bad luck, ‘misfortune’, or setbacks and leveraged it as an opportunity to benefit the greater good.
The only reason they were able to do so is that they took ownership for their situation, rather than justifying, rationalising, or making an excuse as to ‘how bad they have it’ or ‘why it always happens to them’.
The sad reality is that most people we will meet in life will not think this way. Instead, they will have spent a great deal of time perfecting their ability to find a reason why something won’t work, why it can’t be done, why it is somebody else’s fault. They will have become masters of making excuses, rationalisations and pointing fingers.
However, here is the challenge.
Whenever someone makes an excuse, rationalises why something can’t happen or points the finger at someone else, they have just relinquished all of their power; they have put themselves into a victim mode of thinking.
Rest assured, victim thinkers never win.
It is impossible because you can’t build anything on a foundation of victim thinking.
Conversely, empires have been created by people who were willing to take Ultimate Responsibility.
The good news is, there are only three things that people need to take Ultimate Responsibility for in life to accomplish everything that they want:
- The goals that they want to pursue.
- Who they need to become to achieve those goals.
- The challenges that they encounter in the pursuit of those goals.
By taking Ultimate Responsibility for these three things, regardless of what happens, good or bad, they will always be in control of their destiny.
From a leadership and business growth perspective, the concept of Ultimate Responsibility must be one of the essential cornerstones of a peak performing business or team culture.
It fundamentally changes the way people think, the way they interpret, the way they act and react.
It is, without fail, one of the most important things we teach at The Power Within Training.
At The Power Within Training & Development, we help leaders and emerging leaders develop a growth mindset and learn the critical skills of Ultimate Responsibility needed for leadership success through our world-first Motivational Intelligence Executive Diploma.
It will help you and your team breakthrough comfort zones, fears and self-doubt, define and communicate impactful goals, implement tactical strategies and put in place systems that work for you and your business goals.
James Fleming
The Power Within Training,
The Motivational Intelligence Company
james@thepowerwithintraining.com
To find out more visit……..https://www.thepowerwithintraining.com/mq/
