“Want to turn adversity into success? Shift your mindset to focus on responsibility, not fault. Life may be tough and unfair, but it’s up to you to push through. Whether your car breaks down or your boss is giving you a hard time, take charge and find solutions. Stop blaming others and start finding ways to overcome obstacles. Become the success story you’ve always wanted to be! #responsibility #success #adversity #mindsetshift #problem-solving #motivation”
Take Control of Your Life
- Stop blaming others
- Focus on finding solutions
- Push through obstacles
Overcoming Challenges
- Work towards your goals
- Stay motivated
- Embrace responsibility
I used to supervise a department that was responsible for fixing a lot of things that were screwed up by other departments. When my crew would complain about it I would tell them, “it’s not our fault, but it is our problem”.
A maxim that save us a lot of pain if heeded
The book: The subtle art of not giving a f$#@$ talks about this as well.. accountability, fault, responsibility and how they all work.
No. Its better to take a step further and pursue an outcome instead of focusing on fault or responsibility.
Well…
The person that is responsible for something is also accountable for it if it fails. So unless you plan to avoid accountability (and thus guarantee future failures), this probably isn’t the best approach. However:
If someone is responsible for something, they must be accountable for it. But they also must have the authority to ensure success. So to avoid issues, the best approach is to ensure that everyone understands what they are accountable for and that they have / understand that they have the authority required to make it successful. Communicate and document from the door and hopefully issues will be minimized.
Accountability is key – on all levels. When everyone is responsible to fix the issue, this means that no one will ever be held accountable. The root cause will never be fixed.
On the personal level, learn to recognize where you have / do not have agency. (Agency being the ability to effect change in a situation.) Where you cannot effect change, don’t bother. Once you’ve recognized where you have agency, analyze the situation and determine the course of actions required to produce your end goal. Then execute them.
To use your examples:
If you car breaks down, communicate this to your boss, clearly managing expectations. Then develop MULTIPLE alternatives – getting a ride, public transit, fixing the car, new car, whatever. Ideally you would consider this potential issue before it arises so that you already have a per-determined solution. There may be short term, medium term, and long term needs, so recognize these as steps toward your end goal.
If your boss doesn’t like you, make sure that you are clearly communicating with the boss and aligned on expectations. Then develop MULTIPLE solutions to the current situation – finding out and addressing the issue the boss has, currying favor with the boss, getting the boss removed (if need be), considering alternative arrangements within the company, considering a second job as a fail back, considering a new job entirely, etc. Again, ideally you would consider this potential issue before it arises so that you already have ideas on what you might do. And again, there may be short term, medium term, and long term needs, so recognize these as steps toward your end goal. For example, maybe your boss doesn’t like you because you refused to play ball on a kickback scheme with a vendor. There’s no reason for you to leave. Try to be nice to the boss as you document the situation….then document event more. Meanwhile, cultivate relationships with other folks higher up but outside of your direct chain of command. Wait until you’ve got maybe three actionable offenses and then bring it to the cultivated higher up – ask for advice, saying how you really don’t want to get your boss in trouble so you don’t want to go to HR, but the situation makes you feel uncomfortable, etc. If said higher up doesn’t care then the place has a culture of corruption and you should leave. If they do care, you’ll end up in HR where you reluctantly provide the documentation you collected (after a pause to “collect” it.) Accountability is key, problem is solved.
From what I understand & outside of preexisting agreement there is an element of directionality missing here. Usually fault or ble is assigned to someone, while responsibility is taken by someone.
In business problems will occur but you don’t assign blame/fault because fear prevents such issues from being reported before they escalate.
You can’t control the wind but you can adjust your sails
Yeah, and that’s how I figure out who fucked up in my team.
Also, stop trying to assign intent to someone’s actions. It’s much more likely your boss is too busy to even think about you than going out of their way to screw you over.
Usually the responsibility falls on the one at fault
I used to be like this. But you can also take on too much responsibility for things that really aren’t your problem. The wisdom of knowing when to take responsibility and when to not is also important.
It is totally ok to absolve yourself of problems that you didn’t create and don’t need to fix. Some times it is better to let people and things fail and being ok with watching the dumpster fire and not letting it burn you.
I don’t think about either. I concentrate on “how do I fix it” and “how do I avoid it in the future.”
Nope! Pretty sure those the same thing. Whoever’s fault it is is also whoever’s responsibility it is. If you knocked over a cup and spilled something all over the floor it is your fault as well as your responsibility to clean it up. 🤦♂️
What happened?
Why did it happen?
How do we change things so it doesn’t happen again
Who isn’t even in that equation
Fuck either of those those that lines and just focus on ‘How do I solve this”
Just because it’s not my fault doesn’t mean it isn’t my problem
Kill all Rothschilds
Kinda funny how we lived with this motto at work, until the CTO decided, that witch hunting is a better option, so now we gotta find someone to blame for every minor accident
This is something that is said by someone who fucks shit up all the time and doesn’t want to be held accountable for it
This post is stupid, because the responsibility is always of the self. Everyone knows this. It’s not profound advice lol.
“What can I do to make the situation better?” And MOST times you will find SOMETHING. That applies to things you would deem out of your control, or even to fights with people near you.