One thing I’ll never get tired of talking about is how to take your power back. I think as someone who felt so powerless in life for so long, this is a subject that is near and dear to me. ⚡️
And I was watching a Jim Rohn YouTube video that reminded me of one of my TOP FAVE ways to take your power back, even if it is at times pretty counterintuitive.
How to take your power back: Radical Responsibility.
Radical Responsibility
Jim said something in that video that reminded me of how I reframed my approach to responsibility so many years ago:
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.
~Jim Rohn
Radical Responsibility is an idea I stumbled into when I was stuck in a toxic work situation (many years ago now) and dabbling in the startup world as a potential escape plan. At the time, a very trendy topic was the idea of “Radical Honesty” (especially as it pertained to work and working relationships, since it was part of startup culture).
Radical Honesty is the practice of being completely honest when having discussions, communications, and beyond, even avoiding white lies.
I had fun experimenting with Radical Honesty and wondered if there were similar applications that would be useful in life, especially since I was feeling super stuck in life.
Along the lines of Radical Honesty, Radical Responsibility is the idea of taking complete responsibility for everything in your life, whether you’re at fault or not.
This is NOT about victim blaming or having toxic positivity. It may not be your *fault* if a situation happens.
But the idea is to ask yourself what part you played in any scenario and more importantly, what you can do about it.
From Victim-Mode to Taking Objective Responsibility
This was an important shift in mindset because it was a time I felt very powerless and was very victim-oriented. I was the lowest authority person on a team at my 9to5, and I felt like I was constantly getting the short end of the stick. I was blamed for problems but had zero power to do anything about them in terms of enacting change within our team or program.
And all of this was making me angry, sad, and frustrated. And as the days went on (and additional challenges rose up in other areas of my life), my life plummeted deeper and deeper towards a rock bottom like I’d never experienced before.
I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t.
I was tired of feeling powerless.
I needed an escape, but I couldn’t get away.
So I tried something different – taking Radical Responsibility. In small and big ways. In all the ways I could think of.
Was it my fault that I sent a document out for approvals and not a single person did their job of reviewing the doc and sending either their questions or approval back? They knew they had agreed to reply to me by the deadline. They knew I couldn’t approve the document for them.
But was it my fault?
I started to look at situations like these differently. Ok, so I couldn’t approve the document myself, but what was within my control for the given situation? What could *I* do about it? What part was I playing in the document not getting approved?
At first, questions like these stung a little.
I felt a bit bitter.
Why was *I* having to bend over backwards to make people do their own jobs?
But I realized that this line of thinking wasn’t helpful, and it certainly wasn’t positively impacting my life.
And while it felt a little counterintuitive, as I started to draw attention to my responsibility, even in situations that were really pissing me off, I felt my power coming back to me.
It was empowering to find my responsibility and focus what was within my control. I got to tap into my creativity to come up with new solutions and look at things from a new POV.
An Empowering POV Rooted in Radical Responsibility
I realized:
- I could improve my written and verbal communications skills to ensure I was clearly articulating the ask and deadline.
- I could have more empathy and see things from their perspective – how they were being overworked and were overwhelmed and could use a gentle reminder to help them manage their seemingly unending tasks. Wouldn’t I appreciate that kind of grace?
- I could improve my relationship building skills and deepen my relationships with my colleagues so they were more inclined to reply to me and keep me apprised of how their review was going.
- And that I could make even more micro and macro improvements from there.
Taking Radical Responsibility not only gave me power, it got me better results at work, it made me a better employee, and the benefits extended beyond work. I became more consistent with my health and personal development goals. It helped me overcome my limiting beliefs. It improved my personal life and relationships and made me a better person overall.
Imagine what Radical Responsibility could do for you?!
So how can you take Radical Responsibility in your life? How can a mindset and action shift like this help you achieve your goals and take your power back?
Check the Action Section to get started!
Action Section: Tackle Radical Responsibility (Without the Toxic Positivity)
Ready to take Radical Responsibility? Here’s how:
- Identify a scenario you’d like to tackle. Or notice when one comes up.
- Ask yourself, “What part do I play in this?” What part of this falls under your responsibility? How did your action or inaction cause things to unfold as they did?
- Most importantly, what can you change within, from, or about yourself to move forward in a positive direction? What is within *your* control that you have the power to take action on to move things forward for your highest good and the highest good of all?
Remember: Radical Responsibility is not about victim blaming or toxic positivity. Some situations are objectively sh*tty. But wallowing on how you’re a victim does not yield power and usually doesn’t create much positive change. To take your power back, it’s important to acknowledge the reality of your situation while also looking for ways that you can focus on what *is* within your control. And if your situation is particularly difficult or traumatic, please do seek professional support to process things. Therapy or other proper support can be wonderful, whether completed before or in partnership with personal development efforts and/or coaching.
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Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog post Radical Responsibility (To Take Your Power Back)! Hope you found something helpful here!