I recently began reading Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and a section from the beginning of the book really stood out to me. In this section, he talks about how things have to happen from the "Inside-Out" rather than how most people try to make it work, which is from the Outside-In.
Now you may be wondering, "Tony, what the hell are you saying?" Let me explain.
We're all guilty of it, blaming our failures to change habits on outside factors. It's too early. My classes are too hard. I have kids to take care of. I get it, I've made these same excuses too, but they aren't serving us, only hurting us.
We just think, "If this one thing would change, then I'd be happy." What if we focused on changing our behavior rather than waiting for the outside world to change?
Covey gives a great example that I'm sure many of you can relate to in the workplace. Freedom to act on our own schedule is something everyone wants, but who's really willing to do the work to gain that freedom? I'm not talking about becoming an entrepreneur, but rather in the workplace, if you seek more freedom and want to receive promotions, why not take the initiative to take on more responsibility?
"But that's not my job."
BULL. SHIT.
Your duties reach further than what is in your job description. If you choose to maintain this mentality, then don't be upset when you're in the same place in 2 years that you are at now.
In a brief statement, be willing to change yourself before you expect your outside environment to change. If you want something outside to change, you must first change it within yourself first.