The Starting Point of All Achievement

Somebody asked me once — this was at a seminar in Phoenix — they said, "Jim, what's the first step to becoming successful?"

I said, "Take ownership."

They said, "Ownership of what?"

I said, "Everything."

Now, I didn't mean you have to buy everything. I meant you have to own your situation. Your decisions. Your results. Your growth. All of it.

See, most people are waiting. Waiting for the economy to improve. Waiting for their boss to notice them. Waiting for the right moment. Waiting for someone to come along and fix what's broken.

And while they're waiting, life is passing.

---

Here's a phrase I want you to write down. It changed my life when Mr. Shoaff first shared it with me.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.

That's it. That's the whole thing. You can't control what happens to you, but you can control what you do about it.

And what you do about it — that's where your growth begins.

The Two Lists

I used to keep two lists. One list was all the things that bothered me. The economy. The government. The weather. My boss. Traffic. The price of things. My neighbors. Long list.

The other list was what I could actually do something about. And here's what I found out — the second list was just as long as the first. I'd just never looked at it that way before.

See, we spend so much time cataloging our complaints that we forget to catalog our choices. And the choices are where all the power is.

Somebody says, "I can't get ahead because of the economy."

I say, "Interesting. Other people in the same economy are getting ahead. What are they doing that you're not doing?"

That question — what are they doing that I'm not doing — is worth more than a year of complaining.

The Day I Stopped Blaming

I remember the day it happened for me. I was twenty-five years old, and I'd spent the better part of a year blaming everything and everybody for where I was in life.

My parents didn't give me enough. My teachers didn't teach me enough. My company didn't pay me enough. The government took too much. Nobody helped me.

Mr. Shoaff looked at me and said, "Jim, you've been here six years. You've got pennies in your pocket and nothing in the bank. Let me ask you something — is it possible that the problem isn't the economy, isn't the company, isn't the government? Is it possible that the problem is you?"

That stung.

But you know what? It was the best sting I ever felt. Because the moment I accepted that I was the problem, I also discovered something extraordinary.

If I was the problem, then I was also the solution.

And that's the day everything started to change.

Growth Is a Choice You Make Daily

Now, taking ownership doesn't mean you blame yourself for everything that's ever gone wrong. That's not what I'm talking about. Some things happen to you that aren't your fault.

But here's the key — what happens to you is not nearly as important as what you do about what happens to you.

The wind blows on all of us. The economic wind. The social wind. The political wind. Same wind. But we don't all set the same sail.

One person says, "The wind blew my life off course."

Another person says, "The wind is blowing — let me reset my sail."

Same wind. Different response. And the response is what makes all the difference.

The Five Areas of Ownership

Let me give you five areas where taking ownership will transform your life.

Your philosophy. What you know and what you think about determines the quality of your life. If your philosophy is wrong, the rest won't work. Take ownership of what goes into your mind — the books you read, the conversations you have, the ideas you entertain.

Your attitude. How you feel about the future. How you feel about yourself. How you feel about others. Attitude is the paintbrush of the mind. It colors everything. And you choose the color.

Your activity. What you do every day. Not what you plan to do. Not what you intend to do. What you actually do. Take an honest look at your daily activity and ask yourself: is this the activity of someone heading where I want to go?

Your results. Don't explain them away. Don't rationalize poor results. If the results aren't good, the philosophy isn't right, or the activity isn't enough. That's not discouraging — that's empowering. Because you can change all of it.

Your lifestyle. This is the final expression of everything else. Your lifestyle is the sum of your philosophy, attitude, activity, and results. If you want to change your lifestyle, you don't start with the lifestyle. You start at the beginning — with your thinking.

Start Where You Are

Somebody says, "But Jim, I'm so far behind. I've wasted years."

I say, "Good. Now you know. Don't waste years regretting the years you wasted. Start from where you are."

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is today. Not tomorrow. Not Monday. Not when things settle down. Today.

Here's what I've discovered about the people who make real progress. They don't wait for perfect conditions. They start with what they have, where they are, and they refuse to make excuses.

They take a class. They read a book. They find a mentor. They practice a new skill for fifteen minutes a day. Small things? Yes. But small things done consistently become extraordinary things.

---

I've often said that what's easy to do is also easy not to do. And that's the challenge of personal growth. Nobody's forcing you. Nobody's checking your homework. The disciplines are easy — but so is the neglect.

The difference between where you are and where you want to be is the ownership you're willing to take.

So take it, my friend. Take full ownership of your growth. Not because someone's making you. Because you've decided that your life is too valuable to leave in someone else's hands.