“It is time to stop looking outside yourself for the answers to why you haven’t created the life and results you want, for it is you who creates the quality of the life you lead and the results you produce. You--no one else! To achieve major success in life--to achieve those things that are most important to you--you must assume 100% responsibility for your life. Nothing less will do.” ~ Jack Canfield from The Success Principles
I love this Principle. It’s Covey’s Habit #1 (Be Proactive) of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and it’s the cornerstone of the wisdom of ALL great teachers--from East to West, classic to modern, philosophers to gurus to psychologists.
Canfield shares a really cool formula to help us get the idea: E + R = O.
The Event + Our Response = The Outcome.
An event happens. Sweet. The event is, in itself, neutral. (To get all fancy-pants-Buddhist about it, the event is “empty.” It has no meaning in and of itself.)
We respond. We ALWAYS have a choice as to how we respond and it’s ALWAYS (!!!) OUR RESPONSE mixed with the Event that determines the Outcome.
Now, when peeps are playing in Victim-mode, they think the equation goes E = O. Something happens, there’s an outcome. Stimulus --> Response. Reactivity vs. Proactivity. Victim vs. Creator. Less than 100% responsibilty vs. 100% responsibility.
Those of us committed to success, however, know that it’s OUR RESPONSE that determines the Outcome. In short, we need to take 100% responsibility for our lives.
Canfield shares a great story to bring home his point. After the earthquake in 1994 in Los Angeles (I still vividly remember being essentially *thrown* out of bed in Westwood where I was attending UCLA :), one of the major freeways took a beating. So, traffic was at a near stand-still. Some news reporters were knocking on commuter’s window’s asking them what they thought.
The first person was all angry and pissy and complaining about the fires and the floods and the earthquakes and how much he hated California, yada, yada, cry me a river yah.
The second person was beamingly happy and said she left for work at 5 am to do her best to get to work on time and, knowing there’d be delays, she brought some Spanish language learning tapes plus a book and a lunch and a full thermos. Life was good.
Event + Response = Outcome.
How are YOU responding to the events in your life?!?
If you want more success, happiness, joy, health, creativity, mojo, love, wealth, and all that is good in the world, you’ve GOTTA pay attention to Principle #1. Take 100% Responsibility for your life.
Make it a game. See how you can create better and better Outcomes by more and more consciously choosing your Responses to the Events in your life today!!!!
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PhilosophersNotes on The Success Principles by Jack Canfield | |||||
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