Owning the Outcome

I’m going to share some thoughts from James Allen here about happiness and overcoming struggle. James is one of my favorite authors whose words 150 years ago are still so relevant that it might make you think he’s ridden in a time machine somehow. His words are often prophetic and poignant and you’ve heard me quote him here before. I’ve focused a main aspect of my life around his teaching that purpose is highly concentrated talk and dispersion is weakness. Here’s another topic from him.

The Power Is Within

He says, “The cause of all power and of all weakness is within.” I find that so powerful. The cause of all power and weakness is within. Making yourself open to that notion helps to build greatness in your life, and you’ll find yourself much better off if you accept this idea sooner than later.

It’s nonsense to keep blaming other people, other institutions, other situations, if you truly believe the thing holding you back is somebody else’s fault. As I often say, if your situation is somebody else’s fault, then they have to change before you can improve your situation.
That sh*t is not going to happen.

No one’s changing for you. If people decide to change at all, they have to do it for themselves. So the point here is that the good and the bad, it’s within yourself.

Fault vs Responsibility

That’s the initial threshold to cover. That whatever my bullsh*t is, the solution is within. There’s a Will Smith YouTube video I remember, where he said, “There’s a big difference between something being your fault and something being your responsibility.” Most people, I will tell you, they conflate the two. If it’s not my fault, it’s not my responsibility. That’s bullsh*t. Fault and responsibility are distant relatives of each other, but they are not the same thing.

For example, it’s highly likely that it’s not your fault if your mother was a drunk. It’s highly likely it’s not your fault if your dad beat you. Maybe it’s not your fault if your wife cheated on you, but it is your responsibility to build a productive life anyway.

People who go through life confusing fault and responsibility sound like this: “Oh, it’s not my fault she cheated on me, therefore I’m perfectly justified in being a miserable human being.” That’s not the way it works. It may not be your fault some bad sh*t happened, but it’s your responsibility to fix it. Big difference between who’s at fault and who’s responsible.

Secret of Happiness

So James Allen says, and I believe it, “The cause of all power and weakness is within. The secret of all happiness and of all misery is likewise within.”

That’s the bad news and that’s the good news. Let’s say there’s a situation and it’s truly my ex-wife’s fault. How can I make life better going forward? How can I fix it? If you say it’s her fault and she has to be the one to fix it, that may never happen, and it’s completely taken out of your control. This is the beauty of personal responsibility.

People have said, “Well, how can you say you cause, permit, or allow everything in your life to happen?” And I’m like, “You know what? There might be some things in my life that happen that I really didn’t cause, permit, or allow, but here’s the thing. I would rather accept responsibility for it so I can fix it than take the chance of not accepting responsibility and wallow in it or wait around forever for it to change on its own.”

Don’t Wait for Others to Make Your Problems Disappear

You have to take responsibility for your financial problems, your relationship problems, everything. Any problem you have in your life. You’ve got to take responsibility even if it’s not your fault, because until you take responsibility, you can’t fix it. As long as you’re blaming somebody else, you’re pretty much f*cked. That’s just the harsh reality. You have to take responsibility to fix problems.

Allen said, “The cause is within, and the solution to all misery and all happiness likewise rides within. There is no progress apart from unfoldment within, and no sure foothold of prosperity or peace except by orderly advancement of knowledge,” which means you have to learn. And the thing you need to learn is that until you take responsibility for it, you can’t fix it and it won’t fix itself.

Keep in mind that mild weather is on its way soon, so make sure you’re prepared for business to slow down. Does your business know how to prepare for this time of year? And have you invested in training? Have a great week!