Why do so few take responsibility?

And then deny it

There is a whole area of self-development focused on taking ownership, being accountable and taking responsibility for your own actions. Maybe this is the rule of 3 coming into play so that it becomes more powerful as a concept although I have always felt that the key here is responsibility, you are where you are in life, you have what you have, you are who you are because of the thoughts you have decided to have and the actions you have decided to take and you will be tomorrow where, who and what your actions today make you.

It’s your life no one else can take ownership and you are always accountable for your own actions whether you like it or not so taking responsibility is the key trait you need to develop.

The same area of self-development states that the opposite of this is to use blame, excuses, and denial to explain why they can’t or more accurately won’t take responsibility.

That brings me onto the question of why do so many people do this, it doesn’t seem matter if they are running a business or on minimum wage, the tendency to blame something or someone for the current situation or for why they can’t achieve something is massive, and people will generally give an excuse, they may call it a reason but it is an excuse for why it’s not really their fault.

That is denial, like the positive side with ownership and accountability being the outcome of taking responsibility, blame and excuses are simply symptoms of denial. There is a fine line between denial and delusion. Denial is a product of the subconscious designed to protect our psychological equilibrium and reduce the stress of an unacceptable reality. It often gives us time to absorb and assimilate an uncomfortable fact that, when we allow ourselves to think about it for just a second, floods our system with such powerful emotions that our coping abilities are overwhelmed and essentially deactivated.

On the other hand, delusional beliefs don’t deny something. Instead, delusions affirm the validity of an unsubstantiated belief. Although someone holding a delusional belief cannot provide a rational answer for their belief, it’s difficult to get them to change their mind, even when they’re confronted with hard, factual evidence.

It doesn’t matter what thought you are having or emotion you are feeling and it doesn’t matter much which comes first in this instance the key is that they are your thoughts and your emotions that make you act and they are created by the Nero Chemistry in your brain, not in anyone else’s, not by society, nor be some unsubstantiated claim of unfairness in the world, therefore everything you think say or do is created by your brain, it is you that thought it, did it or said it and no one else. Once we accept this taking responsibility is much easier, yes, we will all make mistakes and that is good, it is how we learn and when we can also accept this, we can forgive others who do, say or act in ways that are counterproductive to their own and sometimes others interests as they have not mastered this yet.

Yet, if you continue to believe something to be true when the facts tell you otherwise, when the world shows you that what you are saying can not be done, is being done by others, when the numbers tell you that something must change and you refuse, are you in denial or are you dangerously close to delusion.