We’ve all been there. Staring at a disappointing outcome and scrambling for someone else to blame.
- Why did he get mad at me?
- Why is she not listening?
- Why did we lose?
- Why aren’t people buying in?
- Why are we in this argument?
If you want to find someone else to blame, you will. If you want to shift responsibility away from yourself, you’ll find an explanation that fits. There’s no shortage of external factors to pin it on.
That’s the easy thing to do. That’s what most people do. But it’s the wrong thing to do. Wrong according to physics. Wrong according to ethics. And wrong according to discipline.
If you’re going to use E+R=O, if you’re going to truly build your life on it, then you don’t get to blame events when the outcome doesn’t go your way. You just don’t.
You take responsibility for outcomes. You take responsibility for the contribution of your response. You take responsibility for dealing with events as they are.
You may want to blame the event. Even I still feel that impulse. It’s human nature. You may want to find a reason why something about the event, not your response, led to the disappointing outcome.
But that’s not what disciplined people do. You’re better than that.
We remember E+R=O and we use E+R=O.
We don’t blame events. We take responsibility. We ask better questions: What could I have done differently to create a better result? How will I respond better next time? What will I do now?
Event + Response = Outcome. Do the work.
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