We hear that word bandied around but what does it actually mean?
It means taking ownership of your decisions, your words, your actions, and all the consequences that come as a result.
It means acknowledging the role you play in both the successes and failures of life.
It means understanding that your behaviour and choices impact both your life and the lives of others.
Self-responsibility is essential for personal growth, building trust in relationships, and achieving goals.
It empowers individuals to take control of their lives and make proactive changes.
Powerful stuff!
As someone who had spent a huge part of my life blaming other people (mainly my mother) for whatever negative thing that befell my life I realised what a huge decision it was to step over that line.
Because when I did I had to take ultimate responsibility and would no longer be able to blame anyone else.
Scary stuff!
But I did it anyway and what I found was freedom!
When you take self-responsibility
You recognise that you are responsible for your actions and their outcomes, both positive and negative – Accountability
You understand your strengths, your weaknesses plus the areas where you can improve – Self-Awareness
You make choices based on careful consideration and then accept the results of those choices – Decision-Making
You become dependable and follow through on commitments and promises – Reliability
You view mistakes as learning opportunities and continuously strive for personal development – Personal Growth
We can go one step further and take radical self-responsibility.
What does that mean?
Radical self-responsibility is an intensified form of personal responsibility, where you take complete and uncompromising ownership of your actions, thoughts, emotions, and outcomes.
It goes beyond the basic acceptance of responsibility by embracing a mindset that everything in one’s life is a result of one’s choices, perceptions, and responses.
Here are key elements of radical self-responsibility:
Total Accountability: Taking full responsibility for every aspect of your life, without blaming others or external circumstances.
Self-Empowerment: Recognizing that you have the power to change your situation through your actions and mindset.
Proactive Attitude: Actively seeking solutions and improvements rather than waiting for change to happen.
Emotional Ownership: Owning your emotions and reactions, understanding that they are a result of your interpretations and beliefs.
Integrity and Honesty: Being honest with yourself and others about your responsibilities and commitments.
Growth and Learning: Continuously seeking personal development and learning from every experience, whether positive or negative.
Radical self-responsibility is about rejecting the victim mentality and embracing a creator mindset, where you see yourself as the primary agent of change in your life.
You are standing fully in your sovereignty.
This approach can lead to significant personal growth, resilience, and a deeper sense of empowerment and fulfilment.
My suggestion would be to ease into it.
Take the first step
then when you are comfortable with that, move on to radical self-responsibility.
We have a tendency to jump into things with both feet, go all in, push ourselves then collapse exhausted . . . and then give up.
When you decide you are going to run in a marathon the first step is to get off the couch and walk around the block.
Quite often we begin with jogging for an hour, collapse in agony and never move from the couch again!
We decide we need to lose weight (a much better way to say it is to release some excess weight) and we start by denying ourself of everything we enjoy.
That of course doesn’t last for very long, as it’s impossible to maintain, and then we beat ourself up that we failed … yet again.
As the old Chinese proverb states: ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.’
If you’d like some help with that first step I would be honoured to walk with you on your journey.
I have the tools to help you release all the baggage and ‘things’ that are holding you back.
Send me an email at: maiya@maiya.love
