How To Take Responsibility© by Larry Winget, The Pitbull of Personal Responsibility®

Taking responsibility is the most critical step toward success that you will ever make in anything you undertake, either personally or professionally. The ability to take responsibility for everything you are, everything you do and everything you have is also the biggest challenge you will ever face in your life. Few people ever really master this step which is why so few people ever achieve greatness. Follow these six steps and watch your life change for the better!

1. Make a list of all the things that are keeping you from being successful in each area of your life: why you are broke, why you an unhappy, why you are unemployed, why your relationships suck . . . all of it. Whine, cry and get it all out there and written down. This is your chance! Don’t skip this step – make the lists!

2. Go to each one of these lists and write your own name at the top of each list.  Why?  Because you are the reason your life is the way it is. Nothing else you have written down matters.  Your thoughts, your words and your actions created the life you are living.  Stop making excuses and face that reality!  There are people who face much bigger challenges than you do and they have still figured out how to be successful. So get your excuses and even your ‘legitimate reasons’ out of the way and face the facts: YOU are your problem. The reality is that we all have pretty much the same list we are working with. Some folks can take the list and get rich and some will take the list and go broke. Don’t blame the list; it’s not the list’s fault.

3. Go to the mirror, look yourself in the eye and have a little heart-to-heart with yourself. Say these words: “My thoughts, my words and my actions have created the life I am living. I take complete responsibility for everything going on in my life. I will stop blaming. I will stop making excuses. I am in charge of my life and I am taking control of my results from this moment on!”

4. Repeat this affirmation daily until it is ingrained in your psyche. Yes, daily. It works.

5. Remember this line: Affirmation without implementation is self-delusion. Saying the words alone isn’t enough. The affirmation is only a verbal reminder that you are responsible. Now you have to prove you are responsible by taking action to create the life you want instead of the life you are living.

6. Live by this rule:

Larry’s Number One Rule For Life and Business:

Do what you said you would do,when you said you would do it,the way you said you would do it.

This simple statement is rooted in personal responsibility. It should be at the very core of all your interaction with others. Every time you are tempted to slack off and do less or be less than you could, remind yourself that you are a person of integrity who lives by this simple creed.

This blog is based on an excerpt from my New York Times bestseller, People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It. To order your autographed copy go to www.larrywinget.com.