Ownership
Ownership is taking the initiative to bring about positive results. It means caring about the outcome as much as an owner of a company would and not waiting for others to act. It is being accountable for the results of your actions
So much happens in our daily lives that time can pass at a scary rate – there are ever increasing distractions and the world has never been more connected than it is now. In such times, it is easy to lose control – lose sight of what’s really important to you – and ultimately we can tend to simply float down the river that is life; having the current guide us and take us wherever it sees fit. Daily life can begin to own you.
Daily life is defined as the activities and experiences that constitute a person’s normal existence. Many of which are formed into routines, habits and regular events – and it’s this regularity that offer us a sense of comfort and familiarity. These routines are hugely important for humans as they help balance the uncertainty that life can sometimes throw up by offering predictability and certainty of their own.
So, how can I begin to take ownership?
1. Accept that this is your responsibility and hold yourself to account
You are the leader of your life – plain and simple. Taking responsibility of where you are now gives you the power to decide exactly where you want to go. If you want to achieve something, place you in the centre of the opportunity and map out what you need to do to achieve it. If something doesn’t go to plan, it’s on you – be honest with yourself and explore what happened, and what you are gonna change to not have a rerun in the future
2. Stop blaming others
When something goes wrong, are you more likely to own up to the mistakes you made, or play the blame game? It is much far easier to point fingers and blame others than to take full responsibility for your actions. It’s easier to blame someone for our actions rather than taking a deeper look at why we made the mistake & accepting the consequences – blame shifting takes less effort, and it’s easier on us emotionally.
“Blaming others for your problems is like blaming donuts for being fat. It wasn’t the donut, it was the choice” – Jeff Gitomer.
Playing the blame game is unhealthy and although it can ease some pain in the short term, it’s an infection – it will backfire on you and the outcomes are disastrous. People you blame will realize what you’re doing; people around you lose faith in you and your credibility takes hits. Your circle of trust that is so important in life will begin to shrink and this can lead to feelings of isolation, loneliness, abandonment, etc. It is far better to earn the respect and admoration of others by not only owning what went wrong, but also what you are going to do to make things better.
3. Forgive others
This can be very challenging for some but the alternative is hold grudges or harbour negative energy against others – both of which only affect you! Holding on to events that have happened in the past will affect the progress and decisions you make in the past. Everything that we experience, whether it be good, bad or ugly, can be used as a learning opportunities and these help us grow in some way, shape or form. If you cant forgive, simply make peace with the past and, importantly, keep focus on what you take from the experiences you’ve encountered.
4. Unyielding clarity
This is where daily life can sometimes play against us – the comfort of our routines can mean that we take our eye off our end goal and we lose sight of the iterative steps we decided were so important on our journey. Be clear on where you want to be – hold it up as a north star and picture what success looks like, smells like, feels like. Then decide what is the smallest thing you can do tomorrow to begin making progress.
Define what success looks like for you?
This goal is yours though – it’s not what your mum wants for you, it’s not where you think others would like to be. This goal must come from your heart and light a fire in your brain.
5. Compete with only yourself
Life can be viewed as a competition but it isn’t a race that you need to win – and what does win even mean. If you look at others and try to beat them, you are judging yourself based on another person’s values and metrics. Instead, the competition is between you and your unlocked potential.
That’s not to say to not look at others and the achievements that they been able to master – but instead of trying to compete against them, work with them to explore what they have learned on their own journeys – and whether you can learn anything from them.
6. Learn from others
Owning outcomes doesn’t mean doing it all by yourself. Odds are that there are many people who have already paved the road that walking along on your journey, so why not reach out to them – and I’ll guarantee that they would be more than happy to help, support or offer advice. In this world, we need help from others and this is cyclical – we also have a strong need to give back.
7. Check in regularly
Celebrate your achievements and gain some situational awareness. Take time to regularly read over your goals as its amazing how much we can forget when other seemingly priorities crash into our daily lives. Keep a log of all of the achievements to accomplish and there is no more rewarding a time than looking back over all the awesome stuff you’ve done in the past week, month or year.
This also offers an opportunity for any course corrections or changes of goals – be brave and acknowledge if something needs to change
