Today i want to talk about blame. People, including myself, like to blame everything but themselves for things that go wrong in their life. Amazingly, these are often the same people who don't want to give anybody else credit for their successes when they happen. They are fully responsible when things go right -- but they look to blame anybody or anything else when things go wrong. Perhaps a virtuous person would be the opposite. Taking blame for things when they go wrong and looking at everybody else when things go right.
I'm no longer going to blame other people -- nor am I going to allow other people to blame me. I'm going to do what i'm supposed to do and if i do that then i'm not worried about being blamed.
When people blame other people or things, they likely just didn't do enough background work. They didn't plan or prepare for that outcome, so when it happened they felt powerless. And since they felt powerless -- they feel as though is was out of their control. (not their fault) However, all of those possible scenarios need to be thought of and steps taken to mitigate the risk of them happening. There is always going to be the unexpected -- but the more we plan and prepare the less things will catch us off guard.
For example, if you're trying to be strict about your diet and something comes up at work and you didn't get to go to lunch as expected -- you'll still have a healthy option at your desk. Instead of telling yourself you'll pack your lunch in the morning before work -- pack it when you're putting away dinner the night before.
When event Z happens, go back and look at Y, X, and W to figure out what could've prevented it. In many cases, there will always be something that you, personally, could've done.
Be radically proactive. Insanely proactive. Set myself up to succeed in 65 years.
Jocko Willink said something along the lines of, when your boss thinks of something, report it already done because you'd already planned for that, thought of it, and accomplished it before he even thought about it. "Done, sir!"
But i'm not really talking about be beholden to somebody else. This is more for my personal life -- but the essence remains. Pro-activity over re-activity.
