Tony Williamson

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are those who get up and look for the circumstances they want - and if they can't find them, they make them."

- George Bernard Shaw

Jim Rohn, American business philosopher, says an interesting thing. He says, "You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons or the wind, but you can change yourself."

Multiplied millions of people in the world - and you may be one of them - are under a strong, debilitating, destructive delusion about life. They believe life owes them something, that they are entitled to succeed, that other people, somewhere, somehow are responsible for filling their lives with wealth, joy and happiness. Many of these persons, blighted by this delusion, cry, "Nutten nah gwaan fi mi."

Complete responsibility

But, truth be told, there is only one person on the face of this earth who is responsible for your success, your happiness, your wealth, your relationships.

That person is you.

If you want to be successful, if you desire to reverse a downward spiral in your life, if you wish to move ahead in 2008 and beyond, you must take complete responsibility for everything you are today, for all the results you produce, for the state of your health, for your debts and maxed-out credit cards, for the quality of your relation-ships, your income, your feelings, your station in life.

Most people have the tendency to blame others for what happens to them. Child-ren blame their parents for their outcomes, employees blame their bosses, hus-bands blame their wives, and citizens blame the government. If we are depressed, we blame the weather. If our savings are eroded by inflation, we blame the economy. If we have no money, we blame the system. We tend to look outside of ourselves to find the reasons for our failures instead of putting up a mirror in front of our face and saying, "Here is the REAL problem. I am looking at him."

EXCUSITIS

The starting point of genuine success in life - and it can start today - is to say to yourself with honesty and acceptance, "As of today, I take 100 per cent responsibility for my life. I will not look outside of myself for success or failure. If it's going to be, it's up to me." Once you can say that and truly mean it, you have made a major change in your life and started on the high road of personal achievement.

Jack Canfield put it this way, "You create everything that happens to you. It means you understand that you are the cause of all of your experience. If you want to be really successful ... you will have to give up blaming and complaining and take total responsibility for your life."

The first step in taking full responsibility for your life is to abandon the habit of making excuses. Excuses are the common denominator of failures in life: "The devil made me do it." George Washington Carver said, "Ninety-nine per cent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses."

Excuses are the comfort of fools and the spawning ground for underachievement. If you want an example of this, ask habitually late people why they are late.

"The traffic was heavy." But the responsible answer might be, "I left home late." "I am late because my wife had to go to the pharmacy." "The clock did not alarm this morning." These are all examples of excusitis and you could multiply these by thousands - to take care of your debts, your divorce, your diabetes, your income, your failure to be promoted at work.

Enough is enough

Going forward in 2008, you must draw a line in the sand and say, "Enough is enough, the past is passed. I choose to go forward. I will accept total responsibility. I will succeed. This is a new day."

My friend, circumstances are not the problem. Whatever your circumstances now, there are thousands of persons who have faced similar circumstances and have succeeded. If they could do it, so can you.

Tony Williamson is an international motivational speaker, sales trainer, author and lifestyle consultant. Email tonywilliamson_57@yahoo.com.