Take Responsibility

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up. -John Maxwell

It’s funny that this is the quote for today. I queue them up a week in advance on twitter, and on the mailing list, and then usually write the blog post the night before the quote is due. Why is that funny? Well it’s not – or that’s not the funny part. What’s funny is the discussion I had about growing up and accepting responsibility for attitudes and actions with my own kids just tonight. They’re at an age where everyone else is wrong and everything is the fault of everyone else. My response to them wasn’t this quote because who remembers quotes when you’re in the middle of a knock down drag out with your teenagers, but the intent of the message I delivered to them was the same. You want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like an adult, and the best way to do that is to accept responsibility for your attitudes and your actions. That’s when you become a “grown up.” So this blog post may not be very helpful for a lot of you, but it really hit home in my house. Will my kids grow up tonight and accept responsibility for their attitudes and actions. Heck no, not 100%, but then again, I haven’t mastered it yet either. But it’s sure good to have something to work toward, and I take great pleasure in getting better at it each and every day.