8 Ways to Take More Responsibility for Your Life

Do you take enough responsibility for your life? Those that don’t often have challenging lives. There are so many forces working against you that it’s imperative to actively participate in your life.

Blaming others, relying on luck, playing the victim, or hoping that randomness will be in your favor is a loser’s game.

Your destiny is under your control, but only if you exercise that control.

Use these strategies and take greater control of your life:

1. Own your problems. Every problem you have is your responsibility to manage. Whether you have terrible parents, a bald head, ugly knees, or a lousy boss, you’re the only person that can save you. Own your problems and you’ll stop waiting for someone else to save you.
2. Make yourself a priority. It’s okay to put yourself first. If you don’t, who else is going to? No one. You and your life are important to you. If you don’t make yourself a major priority in your life, your life will suffer for it.
3. Avoid complaining. Complaining implicitly suggests that you don’t have control over the thing you’re complaining about.
   • If you can’t fix the thing that’s bothering you, then why complain? If you can fix it, then fix it. But fix it without whining.
4. Avoid making excuses. Excuses make you weak. There are people that look for excuses so they can let themselves off the hook and take a passive position. Forget about making excuses and look for solutions. Excuses undermine your power over your life.
   
5. Schedule your time. How you spend your time is critical. Avoid living your life by the seat of your pants. Make a plan for each day and follow it to the best of your ability. You’ll be stunned by how much more control you have over your life if you use your time wisely.
6. Choose the people you allow into your life very carefully. People can wreak havoc quickly. They’re unpredictable, distracting, and tend to act in their own best interests. You have an obligation to yourself to be very picky about the people in your life.
   • It’s better to be a little lonely than to deal with the burden of something that isn’t a positive addition to your life.
7. Track your time. Make it a habit to review how you’re spending your time each day. At the top of each hour, ask yourself how you spent the last hour. You’ll find yourself making better choices if you develop this habit of checking yourself.
8. See yourself accurately. This is incredibly challenging to fix, but it’s very likely that you simply don’t see yourself accurately. This causes a lot more grief for you than you realize.
   • You might not know how you come across to others or what it is about you that people like and don’t like. You underestimate and overestimate yourself in many ways.
   • It’s not necessarily enjoyable to see yourself accurately, but it’s certainly helpful.

It’s important to take full responsibility for your life. Acknowledging that your life is your responsibility gives you the power to control the outcome of your life. You’ll feel better about yourself and your future if you accept full responsibility for your life.

This is part of becoming an adult, but it’s more than that. There really isn’t another good option. To refuse to take responsibility for your life puts you at the mercy of others. No one will ever care about your life more than you do.

The only way to have a great life is to be responsible for every aspect of it!