Responsibility, Power & a few Red Hot Chili Peppers

Change is Easy.  Making a choice is hard.  Before you start thinking I’ve banged my head at one too many Red Hot Chili Pepper concerts, consider how many times you actually made an important decision today.  How many times did you come up with an idea, make a choice about that idea, and then act on that idea without fear or hesitation?

If you made just one important decision today, you are doing better than most people.  And I hate to be the mean one to say it, but most people usually let others make decisions for them— like their boss, their coworkers, their friends, their family, or even their television or internet browser.  Did you CHOOSE to go to work on Monday, or did you HAVE to go to work?  Did you choose to increase your leadership abilities by taking an online class or did you HAVE to watch last weeks CSI episode?  Did you even choose the last movie you saw, or did you plunk down $11 to see the one EVERYONE else went to see?

Give it Away, Give it Away Now

Giving others the power to make decisions sometimes seems much easier than making the decision ourselves.  This ease is fueled by the false idea that if you don’t make the decision, then you aren’t responsible for the outcome.  So if anything “bad” happens, it’s not your fault.  Unfortunately, this belief is 100% wrong.  There’s not even a shred of truth here.

For example… what if you let your boss decide which project is most important in YOUR life? Whose goals will come to fruition faster, yours or his?  And what will your daily life consist of?  Your reality would be filled with indifferent actions toward meaningless tasks that  probably won’t help you reach ANY of YOUR goals.  So, you accepted the choice your boss made, and now you are living a passionless, boring existence helping someone else reach their goals by ignoring your own.  Who is responsible for this bad outcome?  And who is dealing with the difficult consequences?

When you blame others, you give up your power to change.  ~Author Unknown

Get smart, get down with the pow wow

Yes, that was harsh, but I want you to succeed.  I want you to choose your next career instead of falling into whatever turns up. And in order to get what you want out of life and make an inspiring career change, you need to trust your own decisions.  You need to consider what you want in your life, define your goals, plan out your actions, and then make something happen.  Your choices direct your reality. Even if you let someone else make the decisions, you are choosing to live in a world molded by their reality instead of your own.

A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.  ~James Allen

To experience the amazing power inherent in making choices, only takes three steps:

1.  Make a Choice & take Action.

You can start with something small.  Decide to get fit and begin going to the gym every week.  Decide to get smarter and read for 1 hour every day.  Or simply choose to break a bad habit.

2.  Notice the Results.

As you accept your choice and continue acting in accordance with that choice, notice how your life begins to change.  How does your body feel after you go to the gym?  What have your learned about the world and yourself by reading daily?  Is it getting easier to break your bad habit?  I recommend you keep a journal to document these results, so you can create more awareness of how much a small action can change your life.

3.  Recognize that your Choice made the Results happen.

Every small choice you make and every action you take will effect your life.  You will experience the consequences, both good and bad.  Whatever the results are, they still indicate how much power you have over your own reality.  If you made the decision and you took the action, then you made the change happen. The more meaningful the decision, the more passionate the action, the larger the change you can create.

Reeling with the feeling, don’t stop, continue

Think about this for a minute.  If you are willing to make the important decisions in your life and accept full responsibility for every action you take, you have the power to change your reality almost instantly.

I can hear you yelling at your computer screen right now…. “But Change is hard! It doesn’t happen instantly!” I disagree.

Because all that time and effort is actually spent on making the decision, developing a reasonable plan for accomplishment and accepting the responsibility for the outcomes (known & unknown).  After you do all that, taking the essential actions to create change is relatively easy. Grass doesn’t strain to grow.  The sun doesn’t exert more effort to raise above the horizon than to fall below it.

Never been a better time than right now

If you’ve been trying to change something for a long time, start asking yourself what possible results you are afraid of facing? What will you be responsible for, if you reach your goal?

• Do you fear your own success? Afraid you’ll be overwhelmed and unable to spend time relaxing with your family and friends? Afraid you’ll do something amazing and then be unable to maintain that creative output forever?
• Do you fear failure? Afraid that if you attempt your goal and then fail, you’ll have nothing left to aspire toward?  Or that other people will judge you for your failure?
• Do you fear your relationships will be damaged? That your friends or family will disagree with your goals  and exclude you for your actions?
• Are you afraid to give up something that comforts you? Like your favorite foods, the mind-numbing effects of television, or even the addictive but relaxing effects of alcohol?

Almost every fear that you think of can be resolved by increasing your knowledge and developing a mitigation plan. Consider one of your important goals and write down all of your fears. Then write down one or two actions you can take to alleviate that specific fear.

For example, maybe you want to loose weight, but don’t want to be responsible for a decision that takes away all of your favorite foods.  Soothe that fear by creating a plan where you can eat your favorite foods, but only on Saturday and Sunday.  Perhaps you are inspired to change your career from engineering to project management, but you have no leadership experience and you’re afraid of being responsible for a team. Reduce that fear by learning the principals of leadership; read Seth Godins book about leadership, sign up for a leadership workshop, find a mentor, or consult with a career change coach.

Maybe you just want to produce an award winning break out song, but have had so many band member changes, you can barely remember who is who.  Take responsibility for your band’s success by spending day and night collaborating and recording “Give it Away” at a Mediterranean mansion instead of a boring recording studio.

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.  ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Come on everybody, time to deliver

Before you can change, you must be able to take meaningful actions toward your goal.  Before you can take meaningful actions, you have to know how those actions will add up to the results that you want.  And before you can do that, you need to recognize the possible consequences and accept 100% responsibility for each one.

Once you stop worrying about how much time and effort it’ll take to change and start deciding what you really want (instead of what others tell you to want), you’ll discover you already have the power to change anything.  The moment you make a choice and accept full responsibility for that choice, you can harness that Power to direct your life toward accomplishing ANY goal.

Decide. Act. Change.

BREAK

What important decision is weighing on your mind? How do you plan to overcome your fears, accept the responsibility, and act? Share your ideas in the comment section!

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