The Raw Truth About Personal Responsibility
Use This to Get Ahead of 95% of Leaders: Part 1 of 5 in Our Personal Leadership Challenge
TL;DR:
Great leadership starts with owning your everyday choices, not just your work decisions
Your personal habits and choices have ripple effects that shape your leadership style
Taking responsibility means acknowledging how your actions affect others, from morning routines to keeping commitments
Start small: Choose one area where you typically make excuses
Practice reframing “It happened to me” to “What choices did I make that led to this outcome?”
Expect some discomfort – it’s just your old patterns resisting positive change
The payoff: More authentic and effective leadership across all areas of your life
Hello, and welcome to Day 1 of the brand-new Personal Leadership Challenge!
Today, we’re discussing something that might feel a little challenging, but it is absolutely the cornerstone of effective leadership in both your personal and professional life.
I’m talking about taking ownership – real ownership – of your actions. Because true leadership begins the moment we stop making excuses and start owning our choices – good or bad. And it’s something that not many people actually do.
As a reminder, here’s what you can expect over the next 5 days:
Day 1: Take Responsibility for Your Actions (You Are Here)
Day 2: Build Trust Through Consistency
Day 3: Coach Yourself Through Hard Moments
Day 4: Set Healthy Boundaries to Protect Your Energy
Day 5: Have a Meaningful Conversation
Now, let’s get started!
The Leadership-Responsibility Connection
Becoming a responsible leader begins long before you step into the office.
Consider this morning, for example. Did you hit snooze on your alarm and rush through your morning routine? Or did you give yourself the time you know you need to prepare for the day ahead?
I mean, it’s okay if you did hit snooze. We’re all human and doing our best to juggle numerous commitments and challenges, after all.
But it’s also valuable to take a moment and consider the consequences of these seemingly harmless actions. Each time you hit snooze and rush through your morning, show up late to a family dinner, or let personal tasks slip through the cracks, you’re reinforcing patterns that will inevitably surface in your professional leadership.
On the other hand, when you fully own your choices and their consequences in your personal life – acknowledging how your actions affect your relationships, energy levels, and personal growth – you develop the muscle memory of responsibility that naturally strengthens your leadership at work.
This mindset shift from seeing circumstances as happening to you to recognizing your role in shaping them becomes the foundation for more authentic and effective leadership both at home and at work. By practicing this awareness in your personal life, you’re building the emotional intelligence and self-awareness that truly great leaders rely on daily.
When Plans Go Awry
Let’s look at a common scenario that might feel familiar.
You’ve committed to meeting a friend for coffee at 1:00 PM, but your morning meetings run long, and you find yourself staring at the clock at 1:15 PM, still at your desk.
You could text a quick “Sorry, stuck at work!” message and reschedule. (Many of us would!)
But pause for a moment and consider the ripple effects: your friend has likely adjusted their schedule to make time for you, maybe even turned down other opportunities. They might be sitting there right now, checking their phone, feeling less valued by the minute.
When you take a closer look, what seemed like a small scheduling hiccup actually reflects a choice – perhaps to overbook your calendar, to not build in buffer time, or to prioritize work over a personal commitment.
By recognizing these patterns in your personal life, you can start to see similar dynamics playing out in your professional leadership.
Your Next Step Forward
Here’s a simple but powerful exercise to begin strengthening your responsibility muscle: Choose one area of your life where you’ve been making excuses or deflecting ownership.
Maybe it’s:
Your morning routine
Your exercise habits (cough guilty cough)
How you handle commitments with friends
For the next week, catch yourself every time you start to blame circumstances or make an excuse in this area. Instead of saying, “I don’t have time to work out” or “Traffic made me late,” pause and reframe the situation by asking,
“What choices did I make that led to this outcome?”
Then, write down one specific action you can take tomorrow to demonstrate greater ownership in this area.
Fair warning: this level of honest self-reflection might feel uncomfortable, and you might notice some internal resistance. That’s completely normal – it’s simply your old patterns pushing back against positive change.
This small shift in perspective, practiced consistently in your personal life, will naturally flow into your leadership style and transform how you handle responsibility across all domains.
And once you’ve started taking full ownership of your actions, you’ll be ready for tomorrow’s challenge: building trust through consistency. We’ll explore practical ways to strengthen your credibility and reliability in both personal and professional relationships.
Stay tuned for Day 2 of the Personal Leadership Challenge – coming to your inbox tomorrow!