Are You Committed To Your Success?

Commitment to taking personal responsibility for creating the successful life and career you want and deserve is one of the four keys to success in my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, I Want YOU…to Succeed, Star Power, Your Success GPS, and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

You can demonstrate your commitment to taking personal responsibility for your success by responding positively to the people and events and events in your life – especially when they are less than positive.  I had an opportunity to test myself on this one yesterday.

I got up very early to post my blog.  It was Martin Luther King Day and I had written a post describing how the “I Have a Dream” speech is a great example of clarity of purpose and direction – another of the four keys to success in the Common Sense Success System.

When I got to my office, my computer was frozen.  I could move the cursor, but could not actually open a document – or do anything for that matter. 

I was the first guy in line when the Geek Squad opened at 8:30.  My buddy Nate was there.  I showed him the machine and explained the problem.  He found a minor virus, deleted a few files and said I was good to go.  I went home, and the machine worked – for about a half hour.  I went back to the Geek Squad and Nate worked on the problem for the second time. 

When I got back to my office, I was able to post the blog and to get my daily podcast up on the net.  Then it happened again.  Completely frozen, unable to raise the volume to listen to the podcast, close the podcast application or open any other program. 

I called Nate and told him I would bring the machine in for a full diagnostic – and pay the 24 hour service premium.  I got back in my car, drove to the Geek Squad and dropped off the computer.  It’s still in his capable hands.

I have been meaning to read a couple of the books I received as Christmas presents and thought that my computer problems presented an excellent opportunity to spend yesterday afternoon and today doing just that.  However, in the middle of all this, I realized that I was being presented with a challenge to see if I could walk my talk when it comes to reacting positively to the people and events in my life.  Reading novels instead of working would not be the responsible thing to do.

I knew that I couldn’t do a few things that I wanted to do with my backup computer.  But there were things I could do.  I chose to figure out the tasks I could accomplish without the use of my main machine and set out doing them.  I can still do blog posts.  I could still continue developing learning modules for the Common Sense Success System.   That’s what I focused on late yesterday and what I’ll be doing all day today. 

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers. They choose to respond positively to the people and events in their lives – especially the negative people and the unexpected and uncontrollable problems.  They keep moving forward.  They don’t get distracted in their quest to create the successful life and career they want and deserve.  How do you react when life throws those inevitable curve balls your way?  Do you choose to move forward, finding ways around your problems?  I hope so, because that’s the choice that will put you on the path to success.

That’s my take on committing to taking personal success for your life and career.  What’s yours?  Please take a moment and leave a comment sharing your thoughts and stories with the rest of us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud