Winners give up blame.

Winners consistently use an ingredient in their recipe for success that the rest of us often forget. The integral ingredient is this: They take responsibility for their actions and the subsequent outcomes. Sometimes it’s very difficult to reach a particular goal, or to meet a deadline because someone else was blocking your path, or this part of your presentation was given to you late, or your spouse or partner set you back by spending funds you had already budgeted for something else, etc. This is where the vast majority get hung up and accept failure or, even worse, mediocrity, by shifting their energies from working around the problem to creating alibis complicit in their choice to fail.

Winners decide to work through the pain by finding alternate solutions to the problem or (for the more advanced business and personal black belts) capitalize on the situation to propel them to a successful outcome greater than their original expectations.

Choose to follow through. Choose to be prepared for possible disaster, and to be willing to handle delays or distractions. Say no to blame-shifting and choose to win despite the hurdles. If it was easy, everybody would do it. Choose to be one of the few who consistently win by first choosing to accept the responsibility when you fail. When you do this….you will have earned the right to accept the responsibility when you succeed.