Building Strength pt.1
Self-Accountability
Pointing Fingers Is ALWAYS A Bad Move
The best way to stay stuck in one place is to blame others instead of looking at yourself. You can only get better and move forward when you own up to your mistakes. If you don't understand how you played a part in a problem, you can't learn how to do better next time.
It's like a soccer player who keeps missing the goal because he kicks the ball wrong. If he always blames the wind, the grass, or the other team, he won’t learn to kick better. Unfortunately, many of us act this way in life.
We dodge responsibility and point fingers at others. It's even worse when people know they made a mistake but still blame everything else for why they made the mistake at all. The issue isn't that they're wrong, it's that it doesn't help them.
Nowadays, people make a lot of excuses for being bad at things and making mistakes. Some excuses make sense and they’re actually right. What they miss is this,
“Self-accountability is the strength of realizing that even though you don’t control everything, you do control how you respond to everything” (55)
Imagine a short boy who plays basketball. If he always says he can't score because of his height, he might be right. But blaming his height won’t improve his game. Even if his family and friends agree that his height is the problem, it won't help him score more. If he wants to get better, he needs to focus on his reaction, not his circumstances.
When we play the victim, we waste energy making excuses instead of getting better.
Take Spud Webb as an example. He was only 5 foot 7, but he played in 814 NBA games and even won the Slam Dunk Contest. He said, “I don’t play small. You have to play with what you have.” That's true in all of life.
“You play with what you have.”
Spud didn’t waste time complaining about being short. He found ways to succeed despite it. He made the most of what he had and did really well.
He took responsibility for his challenges and worked to improve. He never let being shorter stop him.
He focused on his reaction, not his circumstance.
Key Takeaways:
Owning up to your actions is the first step to getting better in life.
Spending time feeling sorry for yourself means less time improving.
It's easy to blame others at first, but it's harder in the long run.
Brains Gains
What have you always believed is holding you back? Is the condition the problem or is your belief that it’s holding you back the problem?
Have an amazing day. Remember to crush the weekend, you only get 52 of them each year.
Your Biggest Fan,
Noah “BigNerd” Sochaczevski