What does it mean to take ownership of your life? Nothing gives you more power than the ability to fully take ownership.
I never really thought of how much I complained a day until I saw how much it had been creeping into my life.
It had gradually become part of me that I was focusing on 1000 reasons why things would not work out, how this person or the other was messing up, why you couldn’t blame me for such problems.
Yes, I was stuck. Everybody around was now knowing much of my personal problems and I was becoming uncomfortable.
That’s when it started hitting me; I didn’t want to be such person.
I remembered I had learned about taking more responsibility some time back and had decided to take more ownership in life.
“Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team.”
Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.
It all starts with taking 100% Responsibility.
I stumbled across Jack Canfield book “Success Principles” on my journey to self-development.
One of the first principles he wrote about was how take 100% responsibility for your life and to completely desist from complaining.
It struck me to try it out and the benefits I experienced were enormous.
But lately, I had forgotten all this, I was sharing my problems indiscriminately mostly to people who could do nothing about it.
That’s when I decided to meditate more on this – how does complaining affects your willpower?
What power do you really have over problems rather than merely complaining and I put down my thoughts below:
To every problem that disturbs us, we basically have 4 options; you could:
1) Ignore it
2) Try to Suppress it
3) Accept it;
4) Change it
The first option may work for little things we care barely about but in reality may not work for most of the problems we face.
Suppressing it – is mostly counterproductive. It may work temporarily but resurfaces after a while and we’re back to the same problem or even worse.
Accepting it is mostly one of the hardest options as we mostly use this option as our last resort. It’s hardest because we don’t want to feel cheated or weak in front of others.
Changing it is actually how to solve problems. Most problems won’t go away unless we act on them.
This is also where most people fall into the “Complaining trap” as there’s a huge difference between talking about something and doing anything about it.
To be honest, it is also when we talk about problems that we can actually gain advise from others; so talking about problems isn’t entirely bad.
What’s stupid and counterproductive is just talking for “talking sake.” Listening to advise upon advise but doing nothing about it.
It’s what differentiates Successful people and unsuccessful people: “doing” rather than merely talking.
Not just anything but taking the right steps towards their problems.
How to take ownership of your own life?
1. Become more self-aware;
Make it a practice that you could think more before you talk, pause each time you catch yourself complaining and consciously decide to eradicate this habit.
2. Meditation/Journaling:
Write out your thoughts – journal to see the full picture. You’d be amazed by the clarity in your thinking.
Meditation will help you focus on the few things that actually matter.
3. Differentiate between seeking for advise and complaining
One leads to taking action; the other is a vicious cycle of seeking sympathy.
4. Say no to things you’d rather not do:
The most overwhelmed people are the people who can’t say no … no to their desires, no to external influence, no to other people’s requests, no to change even when it becomes obviously necessary.
Take control of your schedule
It’s possible to focus on the most valuable use of your time and to discipline yourself to continually work on those few activities that contribute the greatest value to your work and business.
That’s the art of doing less, but better and ultimately complains less.
5. Focus on taking more action and finding solutions;
Taking action requires courage.
What you do today determines tomorrow’s result. This is by far one of the most important point.
“Mastery doesn’t come from an infographic … it’s not what you know, it’s what you do consistently.” – Tony Robbins
Set clear goals and work towards them
The biggest motivation to keep taking action is when you set clear goals. Even if you don’t meet them – it gives you a sense of control of your life since your have targets you’re working towards.
E.g. when i started writing online, i had a goal of writing everyday which i did through NotePD.
After realizing that goal, i decided to drop it down to publishing at least once a week to make it more realistic but still writing everyday.
This has given me the freedom to focus on other things that are important to me while still keeping the blog active.
6. Do hard shit
Are you complaining more because you’re underestimating how much effort you need to put it to execute or you’re basically trying to pass time while you skip doing work you know you should be doing?
If you’re not doing any hard shit, you’re going to get bored:
If you’re not doing any hard shit, you’re going to get bored.
When you do; it’s easy to end up in all forms of binges
Porn, Crap food, Victim mentality
How to solve that?
Build. Set weekly goals/review.
Lift. Cook/eat local.Do the difficult things you keep postponing.
— Emmy Steve (@stevewinroad) July 22, 2021
7. Surround yourself with people steps ahead of you.
Your success depends on with whom are you spending your time.
Associate yourself with people who are likely to improve you – not complain further with you.
8. Get mentorship
You can either try to do everything on your own and learn shit the hard way or smoothen the process through mentorship/coaching.
Coaching is an invaluable tool that can help individuals reach their full potential as it can help you become empowered and take ownership of your life and provide you with the tools and resources to create lasting change.
Here’s a post one of my Mentors in the space made even while she was at a point in the hospital bed:
Something I’ve noticed in my mentor 8 figures), and EVERY self-made millionaire is that they don’t complain, EVER.
Because as soon as we complain, we give up ownership.
And if we don’t take ownership over our life, we can’t control where we’re going – Coach Lea Botchler.
9. Take 100% responsibility for your life
Whatever you do in life, go with the mindset that it is all on you.
Assume the responsibilities of the CEO of your life. Stop shying away from challenges.
Never settle!!! You should never be satisfied and always try to improve your habits and goals.
CONCLUSION
Finally, we all need to get comfortable with focusing on the things we can change and accepting things we cannot. This way you realize there’s no point whining or wasting time on such.
Because at the end of the day, nothing gives you more power than the ability to take full ownership of the goals you want to achieve and the person you want to become.
I got attracted to tech from an early age getting close to my Father. Coupled with learning some high end skills i was able to build a 6 figure Ecommerce store a few years ago after graduating from Pharmacy.
The only way I have found to express myself as an introvert is through writing.
I’m convinced 100% that to build a 6-7-figure business and beyond you need to invest in yourself and your personal development.
The more you grow, the more your business will grow.
PS: I wrote a short book on why you don’t need more motivation and how to push through in such moments – get it here: