Maya Advises: What is our responsibility?
And we are happy to continue with our second text from the “Maya Advises” column. Let’s read ahead what Maya advises about: What is our responsibility?
For this article, I am inspired by the excellent book “The 7 Habits of highly effective people.” by Steven Covey.
I saw the sentence: ” We are free to choose our actions based on our knowledge of correct principles, but we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions.”
What is our Responsibility?
I am not sure how many people know this elementary truth. This sentence comes down to responsibility. Responsibility can be defined as doing things you are supposed to do and accepting the results of your actions. We are free to choose our actions or not. Choosing to act is our choice; fix something or leave it as it is. We can stay in our comfort zones or venture out into the world and experience life from many different perspectives.
It is our choice. But it’s entirely out of our control what consequences we might face later.
Meaning we better learn the game’s rules and enjoy happy moments. Or else life will make us do this the more challenging way. Your life circumstances might be terrible at the moment. Let’s see, what are all of the things that could go wrong (and many of you reading this can relate at least to some
of the items on the list):
– Divorce
– Bankruptcy
– Sicknesses or special needs in the family
– Loss of a loved one.
– Unsuccessful project
– Losing a job or a failed business
– Conflict situations with the people around you
– Accident or terrible natural disaster
These are some of the most challenging situations that might come in life. But, of course, there are many other not so serious challenges. The negative emotions they cause, such as feeling unfulfilled and unimportant, poor eating habits, a lack of motivation to exercise and take care of yourself, and feeling that everyone else is much more interested in their lives than yours, are still harmful.
When I saw that sentence in the book, “We are free to choose our actions, but we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions,” the word responsibility came to mind. So then I thought: What are we responsible for regarding our wellbeing?
I think that priority number one should be growing awareness of ourselves. We have to define what are our values and our priorities. Define who we indeed are. This will explain why we say and do the things that we do.
Many people take this approach in life: Sit back and wait for the change to happen. That’s why some people wait a whole lifetime for better opportunities to appear;
Change our behaviour
Before our daughter Joana came into our lives, I took this approach for some life aspects. Despite my busy life, I wasn’t very proactive, making many excuses. My responsibility wasn’t clear to me. It was easier to blame the circumstances in my life.
You know the saying: You can’t get a solution to the problem with the same behaviour you got yourself in that problem. So it’s our First responsibility to change our behaviour.
Care for ourselves
The second great responsibility should be taking good health care for ourselves, especially when there is no particular reason. When we are in our best health, it is the time to take good care of ourselves.
We can choose not to exercise, continue nutrition as it is, and not do a regular medical checkup. But we cannot select inevitable obesity, blood pressure and cardio
problems, and all the other complications because of our choices.
Education
The third great responsibility is education. You can respond by saying, “I’m too busy working 9 hours a day plus caring for my kids and family. I don’t have time for learning new things.”.
Alternatively, you can adjust your schedule and set aside a few hours a week to learn something new in your field of expertise. You can also explore something new in your spare time. Another thing we learned from this book is that our most important financial asset is our ability to earn. If we don’t continually invest in improving our knowledge, we limit our options.
Integrity and compassion
Fourth, it is our responsibility to develop integrity and compassion. It is our responsibility to be aware of how we treat others. How much is your muscle of understanding others developed?
What you give out in the world is what you receive in return.
Time management skills
Five, it is our responsibility to manage our time management skills. There is a way
to learn how to organize your time better. These skills include learning how to prioritize, learning effectiveness, discipline, and consistency.
Time is not something we have. It is something we create. Learn how to make time for everything you want in your life.
Recognition
Six, change our behaviour. It is our responsibility to recognize when we are stuck at some point. It is our
responsibility to ask for help if we need it. Finding the right people who can help you can be uncomfortable at first. Most of us have deep beliefs that we should know it all and do it ourselves. Many of us still believe that if we are stuck and ask for help, we are broken, and something must be wrong.
Contrary to this perception, the reality is quite different. Check out the biographies of happy, balanced, and beautiful people. They all had one thing in common: they were brave enough to admit they needed help. A few sought therapy, others mentorship, while others sought partners or allies with similar values. Asking for help is not shameful.
We are social beings who cannot do everything by ourselves. Consider this for a moment.
What areas of your life in which you believe you act responsibly?
To change something, what would you need to work on? Then, let me know if you’d like to join us at Coffee with Maya. It’s a free Zoom meeting.
Discuss topics like this together and share ideas with like-minded people
You can visit Maya’s website and reach out for any help you need.
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