Personal Responsibility Is the Name of the Game When It Comes to Your Success

As business owners (or even if we are not owners but are leaders in our organization), we often off-handedly say that we, “…take responsibility” for the things that happen in our company. But what does that mean—“take responsibility?” And are we really “taking” that responsibility or is it ours—whether we take it, or not?

I would argue the latter. Whether or not we take responsibility is irrelevant. The responsibility for the success of our organization is ours, no matter whether we want to assume that responsibility or not.

Personal responsibility seems like such a basic thing. Often, however, it can seem like all people think this is a choice. And while this is unfortunate when it comes from individuals, when business owners fail to accept or adopt the idea of personal responsibility, it can be tragic for the success of our business.

And here is the thing about personal responsibility when it comes to our business….

While it can be a bit intimidating and even frightening to realize that the health and wealth of our organization—especially when those things might be struggling or lacking—falls to us alone, there is a beautiful light in there too. Think about it…

If we are personally responsible for the challenges or even struggles that might beset our business, it also means that the success—and the potential success—of our company is in our hands as well. And far from being scary, that can be a vastly empowering thought or idea.

See, we can use the idea and belief in our personal responsibility to build, grow, and exhibit the confidence needed to empower ourselves and propel our business to new heights. In Psychology, this is known as self-efficacy, and it can be one of the biggest hallmarks of great leaders who can achieve great things, personally and professionally.

Self-efficacy is officially known as having a confidence—acquired through experiences, both positive and negative—in our personal responsibility to not just navigate challenges, but to overcome them and achieve success.

And again, self-efficacy doesn’t just mean or refer to the idea that we assume or take personal responsibility when it’s convenient. It’s also embracing the belief that we have the capacity to both accept our “failures” and the innate skills and ability to do the things necessary to achieve success no matter what—while also overcoming any obstacles along the way.

This is vital to our role as leaders and/or owners in our business because, as experts in the subject explain, our self-efficacy—or personal responsibility—also impacts our beliefs, effort, motivation, ability to overcome challenges, and our resilience. Resilience too, is a critical ingredient in success because it is what enables us get back up and bounce back, when we inevitably get knocked down, now and then. Self-efficacy grows resilience. And resilience improves self-efficacy. And so on…

All of these things then, are clearly relevant to our success. Yet, they are also just as important to our evaluation of what is or is not success in the first place.

Therefore, to grow our personal responsibility, we need to grow our self-efficacy and improve our resilience. Neither of these things can happen unless we willingly take and assume personal responsibility.

In other words, we need to know and believe that we have the skill, knowledge, and resources to do what it takes to both overcome challenges and actively create success. Essentially, this IS personal responsibility. And without personal responsibility, our self-efficacy and resilience are either absent or diminished. Thus, until we embrace and “wear” our personal responsibility fully and completely, we will always find the results we are able to attain or obtain limited below the magic we could otherwise attain and achieve.