Chapter 9: Accepting Responsibility

Note: All quotes used from this post (and my previous posts) are from Bill Phillips Transformation book.

I will be honest..... I've made excuses as to why I'm not losing weight, or why I'm not motivated, or why I'm constantly eating junk food and gaining back the 10 pounds I lost 3 months ago. When I read this chapter it hurt to realize that I am the only reason I'm not moving forward. Fortunately I also felt rejuvenated and inspired. Because I know that I can take that control back in my life. I can take responsibility and move forward. Today is a new day and I will focus on where I'm going. Focusing on the past can hurt and sometimes bring out the worst in us. This morning I woke up feeling lousy and sad. I know it's because I went overboard in my eating of junk food the past 2 days. I started to think of how I totally blew it and what was the point of trying today. It's so hard.  It's going to take a lot of effort to get back to where I was. But I stopped myself because I could see a spiraling downward mindset. That kind of mindset can bring about feelings of despair, worthlessness, sadness, and can lead to depression, anxiety, and behaviors that are degrading and unhealthy.
Today you can take responsibility of your health.

Bill Phillips says it right when he said, "Most every great transformation I've witnessed over the years was preceded by a dramatic increase of self-responsibility. The moment you truly decide to accept ownership of your health, happiness and life is the moment when everything begins to change. When you stop blaming others, give up the victim stories, and you accept responsibility, it's then and only then that you can harness your true power and ability to take control and make remarkable changes for the better."

"Unfortunately, in our society today, we're conditioned to do pretty much just the opposite. Not happy? It's because of the people in my life. They're the ones making me miserable. Not healthy? It's the genetics I inherited. Darn ancestors! Crummy job? It's because of the government and how they screwed up the economy. Haven't been able to consistently eat right and exercise? That's because all the so-called experts make it so darn complicated and difficult for me; besides, I don't have time because everyone else expects me to take care of them first."
"One of the telltale signs that we've given our power away (either knowingly or unknowingly) is by the excuses we make. By their nature, excuses deny our responsibility. Those who've taken control of the things they can in their life choose to share the reasons why things are the way they are, even when those reasons might not always make them look good."

"When we make a resolute decision to accept responsibility for our own health and happiness we are, in effect, becoming a 'no-excuses person.' This is not an action, it's a mental shift. In this stage, we're conditioning our minds, or rather un-conditioning them, to reflect the reality that we're in charge of our own well-being. In this stage, you might wake up and you really don't feel like doing your workout. Rather than making an excuse that you don't have time today, we learn to see in that moment we simply don't want to do it. That's fine. The fact is, I rarely feel like exercising when I get up in the morning but rather than making an excuse, I say, "I'm choosing to take control of my health today and so I'm going to exercise even though right now, I don't really want to."

"Knowing what we have control over and accepting responsibility for it is remarkably empowering. When you reach that point, you really can become the pilot of your life and make it better and brighter than it's ever been. When you do, you'll have more life energy and strength to unselfishly give to others."
ACTION STEP:
 Three specific excuses that I've used multiple times to avoid taking responsibility for my own condition are:

Three things I'm talking control of, starting today, are:

Three actions I'll take this week to demonstrate that I'm accepting responsibility for the things I've written about are:

Three things I realize are beyond my control which I surrender are: