Who’s to Blame?

While I know the same thing can’t be said for everyone on the planet, those of us who are blessed to live in the United States have very few reasons for pointing a finger at someone or something as the cause of our limitations or failures. Not only do I believe that we have some of the most amazing opportunities on the planet, I also believe that the resources we have direct access to - many at no cost whatsoever - are second to none!

Let’s pretend for just a few minutes that what I’m fairly accurate in this assumption… How many people do you personally know who absolutely refuse to take advantage of the tools that are almost always at their fingertips in order to drive positive improvement in their personal or professional situation and constantly point a finger of blame for their lot in life?

Please don’t respond to this with their names! That’s not my goal here… I just wanted to get you thinking. That said, I do genuinely appreciate the responses I get sharing how someone has applied something I shared…

In that last article I published on LinkedIn, I referenced a conversation I had with a long term mentor where I was showering him with appreciation for the impact he’s had on both my personal and professional development. He’s never really been one to take much credit for all the good I’ve seen him do, but this time he pushed back pretty hard.

Terry said, “Wes, nothing I’ve ever suggested to you has been all that significant. Truth be told, I’ve given hundreds of other people the same input I’ve shared with you. Honestly, most of them have even been smarter and more talented than you too. The biggest difference I’ve seen is that you’ve just made less excuses and take more action than nearly anyone else I’ve ever known.”

In complete transparency, I really struggle with sharing that here. I can point to so many of the things he’s suggested to me that I just didn’t implement as well or as quickly as I believe I should have. And guess who owns the blame for that? ME!!!

The fact that you’re reading this post tells me that you’re far more interested in the resources available to you than you are in looking for who you can place the blame on! But even with the amazing resources we each have available, the real difference lies in how we use them… 

Next time we’ll dig into how quick so many people (and companies) are to wag that finger of blame when something goes wrong. I’ll share two recent experiences that couldn’t have been more different; one serving as an amazing example we can all follow and the other as one that may have landed me in jail had the person been local… Until then, I need to make a quick reference to the new 14 Day Trial we just launched for our complete Leading At The Next Level program. I shared a little bit about it in closing the last post but wanted to make sure I kept you in the loop...