Writers 
Taking Responsibility for Where You Are Now
The first step in developing a true success mind-set is often the most painful, but it is also the most necessary. Before you can move forward, you need to understand that where you sit right now is no one’s doing but your own.
That’ is not fun to hear, I know. You might be inclined to argue with me and point to any number of horrible, debilitating challenges you may have faced in your lifetime, and you may further argue that they damaged you beyond repair, forever limiting what you are capable of achieving.I won’t presume to tell you that these experiences don’t matter, or that you are weak for letting them hold you back. I won’t dare try to belittle the pain and struggle you have faced, because I know firsthand how paralyzing fear and pain can be.
However– it’s important that you understand something about these challenges. They have not made you who you are today, and they have not determined the level of achievement you have reached in your life thus far.
It is only your perception of these events that matters! It’s not what happens to you that is important, only what you choose to do with the experiences and the conclusions you draw about yourself because of them.
Let’ us use a common example to demonstrate this point. If your mother was highly critical and constantly belittled you and everything you did, you might now have a belief that you are no good, that everything you do is worthless, and that you will never be successful at anything.
Is such a thing true? Yes, if you agree with it and internalize it.
But what if you decided not to believe it anymore? What if you decided to prove your mother wrong? What if you made a promise to yourself that you will persevere, no matter what else happens to you? What if you decided to stop focusing on your “flaws” and instead worked on building your strengths?It is all within your control.
Do you realize that there are people in the world who have survived absolutely horrific experiences, and then went on to become multi-millionaires, set new world records, and positively affect millions of lives?
Why can’t you do the same? You absolutely can– if you stop using your challenges as an excuse not to try.
The whole point of taking responsibility for where you are now is to stop believing that you would have been more successful if you hadn’t faced challenges in life, and acknowledge that you could have excelled IN SPITE of your challenges (and you still can).
However, don’t beat yourself up over this insight. Taking responsibility is not about abusing or browbeating yourself into doing better. Simply admit that you could have done better if you’d known how, and you will begin to try harder beginning right NOW.
Making the Right Choices, Moment to Moment A common misconception that many of us share is the belief that success is a cohesive state of being that we will eventually claim as our own. In other words, we are under the false impression that we will one day take a giant leap from unsuccessful and frustrated to rich, happy and successful. It may surprise you to learn that success is instead a process of making the right choices. It rarely (if ever) happens in one fell swoop. Rather, you go from making mostly poor or destructive choices to making better choices more often.