Are You Waiting on the World to Change?

“You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present circumstances unless you change.” - Les Brown I was listening to a song on the radio the other day by John Mayer called, ‘Waiting on the World to Change.’ Well, good luck with that. Sitting back and waiting in resignation for The Good Change Fairy to come and sprinkle pixie dust on your business and life to make it all better ain’t happening. Here’s the deal: The world doesn’t just change by itself. It takes people to make the changes happen in the world. The only way to change your present circumstances is to take action to bring about the changes you want. As I’m fond of saying, “You don’t get to whine if you don’t do the time.” If you are going to go about making changes in your business or your life, you’ll need to incorporate the following 3 components: 1. ACCOUNTABILITY – Look around you. Have you ever noticed that every time something happened in your life you were there? You can’t play the blame game if something is not working in your business or life. YOU are accountable for your actions or inactions. It’s no one else’s fault if something doesn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. YOU are accountable for everything you do: your words, your thoughts, your interactions with people, your own feelings, and the results you produce. If things aren’t working out the way you want, then YOU take a look at what YOU could do differently to make things better. 2. RESPONSIBILITY – You have a responsibility to conduct your business (and your life), from a place of honesty, integrity, and reality. If you create problems then it is your responsibility to rectify and resolve them… period. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “People are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Notice he didn’t say that “People are as happy as OTHERS make them feel.” So, if you or any of your clients has expressed their displeasure with your products or services, then it’s up to YOU to clean it up. Same principle applies to the people you interact with in your personal life. If you’re not happy with the way a relationship is going in your life, then is up to you to register a complaint and make a request to change it. 3. CORE VALUES – If you are making bad decisions or second guessing yourself a lot, then in all probability you are making ones that are not in keeping with your core values. If you are making decisions based on what you or others think you SHOULD do instead of what you WANT to do, in all probability you’re being inconsistent with your core values. Once you realign your actions to be consistent with your core values, then you will achieve the level of productivity, effectiveness, confidence, and success you want in your life. The bottom line is this: If you don’t like your present circumstances, change them. You can’t sit around waiting for someone else to do it for you, like the aforementioned Good Change Fairy. YOU are the catalyst and change agent extraordinaire for your life. Go ahead, make a difference in YOUR world today. And don’t be surprised if the world starts bringing you more of what you want out of life as a result of your actions.