A man (or woman) can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. *** John Burroughs ***
For those in the UK you will not have failed to notice that there is a small matter of a general election looming on June 8th. General elections are a strange affair with most political parties blaming the other the state of the economy, the health service, the railways and even potholes in the road. I believe it is human nature to always look to blame others for the situation which we find ourselves in. My mentor once told me that not only should we be responsible for our actions but also be “response able”. The ability to respond to whatever comes our way in a rational manner is a difficult task to manage as we often don’t consciously choose our response, we react instead, and then we blame others for our reaction. We need to recognise that these are our responses for which we, and no one else, are responsible, as I often point out to Mrs Rowe when she burns the dinner and blames me.
In our working lives we often find ourselves in jobs and situations and wonder how we have ended up where we have. It is quite surprising when I tell people that the sum of everything they have is as a result of a the sum of all the choices that they have ever made. For some there is a light bulb moment when they realise that, for the most cases, they can no longer blame anyone else for the situation they now find themselves in. As a Project Manager when I look at the status of the project and the issues that arise, it is often difficult to shoulder the responsibility and not look to blame some other external factor. I may have quoted this before, but as Jim Rohn once said “Don’t wish it was easier wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge wish for more wisdom”. But whatever you do and feel, I suggest that you never tell your partner that you should have married a cook (or suggest that salad may have been a better option), as you will be responsible for whatever comes your way!!!!