Commitment to taking personal responsibility for your success is one of the keys to career and life success that is part of my Common Sense Success System. I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Your Success GPS, and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.
If you want to succeed, you must commit to three things. First, you must take personal responsibility for your success. Only you can make you a success. You need to be willing to do the things necessary to succeed. Second, you must set high goals — and then do whatever it takes to achieve them. Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks. You need to react positively to the negative stuff and move forward toward your goals.
When you commit to taking personal responsibility for your career and life success, you realize that everything counts – that there is no small stuff that you can just blow off. Gary Ryan Blair, the Goals Guy, understands this. Over the weekend, I read his new book Everything Counts! 52 Remarkable Ways to Inspire Excellence and Drive Results. Great book, and one that I suggest you put on your holiday gift wish list. It ranks high on the Amazon.com bestseller list.
In a little box across from the Table of Contents in Everything Counts, Gary says…
“Everything you say; every thought you entertain; and everything you do has a direction, which serves as an advance or retreat in respect to your pursuit of excellence. Everything, regardless of size or intent, has bottom-line consequences; therefore, everything counts!”
Some of the things that count according to Gary really resonate with me. For example…
- Common Sense
- Optimism
- Lifelong Learning
- Gratitude
- Resiliency
- Perseverance
- Failure
- Fundamentals
- Passion
- Vision
- Etiquette
- Reputation
If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I write about these 12 topics quite frequently.
Gary begins his discussion of common sense by saying…
“Common sense is a collection of the pearls of conventional wisdom. It’s the basic governing principles of life that most of us know intuitively, even though we waste valuable time trying to deny them. Common sense is the clear line that separates right and wrong, helpful and harmful; it is the simplicity that can be found just on the other side of complexity.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And, I am after all, The Common Sense Guy.
I am fond of pointing out that Thomas Edison once said, “Many people miss opportunity because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” And I say that “Most people know what to do in most situations; their common sense tells them. However, many people choose to ignore their common sense for a variety of poor reasons.” These reasons often are things like, “It’s the right thing to do, but it’s too hard, or it will take too long.” “It’s the right thing to do, but if I do it, someone might get upset with me.”
This is what Gary means when he says, “We waste valuable time trying to deny” our common sense.
The common sense point here is simple. Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for their life and career. They sweat the small stuff. In his new book, Everything Counts, Gary Ryan Blair, the Goals Guy, echoes that point. He provides a list of 52 things that count, why they count and a call to action for making them count in your life. He also provides a portrait of an individual or organization for each of the things he says count. If you want to succeed, commit to taking personal responsibility for your life and career. Commit to listening to and using your common sense, not denying it. Make everything you think and everything you do count.
That’s my take on personal responsibility and the fact that everything counts. What’s yours? Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks for reading.
Bud
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