How to Take Back Your Power and Achieve Great Success

We seem to be living in a world where there is an increasing and alarming level of Blameitis spreading across all generations. I’m sure you are familiar with the cries of “It’s the governments fault" "It’s the GFC’s fault" or it’s the cat, the dog, the kids, the remote control…” My ten year old nephew is a perfect example of someone with a case of Blameitis. The only time he takes responsibility for his response to the events in his life is when they turn out well. If he hits his thumb with a hammer I can guarantee it would be the hammers fault and not his for being careless in his aim. Don't get me wrong, we are all guilty of displaying symptoms of Blameitis however awareness is the first step to recovery.

20% Event + 80% Response = 100% Outcome

Jack Canfield, Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul series says 20% of life is what happens and 80% is how we respond to it which gives us 100% of our outcome. What a lot of people don’t actually realise is that in EVERY situation we experience in our lives we ALWAYS have a choice in how we respond to the event. The event is never the problem, it is always how we choose to respond or react to the event that dictates the outcome and ripple effect.

As confronting as it may seem, we are all 100% responsible for the outcomes in our lives simply by the way we respond. When we blame others or the event we are actually giving away our power to live a life by design and instead live a life by default. I’d like to demonstrate this through sharing two scenario’s for you to consider.

Scenario One:
After getting dressed for work, John goes down stairs to have his breakfast. As he sits down his young daughter Rosie turns to say something and as she does this she knocks a glass of juice right into her father’s lap, spilling its contents all over his pants.

Rosie starts to apologise as John stands up, his face turns purple with anger as he yells at his daughter “OH FOR HEAVEN SAKE, NOW LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. YOU’RE USELESS... NOW I HAVE TO GO AND GET CHANGED AND I WILL BE LATE FOR WORK!!!” before storming off upstairs to change his pants.

By the time he arrives back downstairs, Rosie is still crying and being comforted by her mother who is none to impressed. She is so upset that she has missed her bus and now John has to also drop her off to school. He is in such a hurry that he is pulled over and given a speeding ticket just around the corner from the school. He drops Rosie off without so much as a word exchanged between them. He finally gets into the office 15 minutes late and discovers he has left his briefcase at home in his haste.

The rest of his day just goes from bad to worse. By the time 5 o’clock rolls around he can’t wait to get home to his family and be done with the day. When he arrives home the only person happy to see him is the family dog. He rolls his eyes and wonders why he even bothers.

Scenario Two:
After getting dressed for work, John goes down stairs to have his breakfast. As he sits down his young daughter Rosie turns to say something and as she does this she knocks a glass of juice right into her father’s lap, spilling its contents all over his pants.

Rosie starts to apologise as John stands up, “Its ok sweetie, I know it was an accident and it’s just a bit of juice. Daddy will just go and change his pants. You finish your breakfast” as he smiles at her and pats her on the head.

John goes up stairs, changes his pants and returns downstairs just in time to wave Rosie off as she heads for the school bus. He picks up his brief case, kisses his wife goodbye and drives to work. He even has time to pop in to the local café for a quick coffee and a muffin before reaching the office 10 minutes early. The rest of his day flows without drama and when the day is ended he heads home to his family. When he arrives, Rosie runs into his arms for a hug and his wife lovingly gives him a kiss hello before settling in for some quality time with the family.

Can you feel the difference? John’s response to the event of the juice incident totally dictated the outcome of his entire day. When we are conscious of this and take 100% responsibility for our lives than we take back our power to create the kind of life we desire.

Not only did John’s response effect his day, it also had a ripple effect with everyone he encountered which would have rippled onto the next person they encountered and so on and so forth. As you can see the negative or positive energy can spread far and wide and have many consequences.

So next time you are faced with a choice of being reactive or proactive try remembering Johns story and begin taking 100% responsibility and live your life by design and not by default.

Until Next time,

Janie