I was mulling over what to write and happened upon a video by David Riklan, the founder of SelfGrowth.com. Last fall, he hosted a self improvement bootcamp, which touched on many subjects. The first subject he tackled was Responsibility.

In this video, he discusses what it means to take responsibility and how doing so will make it possible for you to change and grow. This seemingly simple act has profound ripple effects throughout your life.

He proposes that the key question for anyone is this:  It’s not who’s responsible for where you are today, but who’s going to take responsibility for where you want to be tomorrow?

Where do you want to be tomorrow?

As you ponder this, consider that we have two choices in life:

1. Accept conditions in your life as they currently exist (which leaves little room for improvement) or
2. Accept responsibility for these conditions (which opens the door to changing your life)

Accepting 100% responsibility for our lives can be scary – and hard. But you don’t need to do everything at once. In fact, it’s preferable to start small so you can generate those “wins,” positive forward movement that’s small, thus less scary or difficult.

If you’re at a loss as to what to do, think about the people you know and admire. Consider the behaviors they exhibit. Of all the people you can think of, who do you see as the most responsible? Once you have a person in mind, copy or model your behavior after theirs.

He ends his video by mentioning that awareness is essential to moving into responsibility thinking. It’s easy to blame other people, circumstances, the weather, time of year, etc. for why our lives may not be working well. But blaming doesn’t change things, and it keeps you out of the “responsibility zone.” Once you bring awareness into your conscious mind, you’ll begin to notice when you are blaming someone or something else – and stop doing it.

So if your business isn’t where you want it to be, do you blame other people or circumstances or do you accept your responsibility for where it is currently?

What one small change can you enact that could begin that positive ripple effect?

Consider these questions while you watch David’s video. It’s a bit over 7 minutes in length.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5OayJ5PU60[/youtube]