Think and Grow Rich test: Do you accept responsibility for problems?
November 10th, 2009 by JD
My answers to the Think and Grow Rich Self-Assessment Test
Recently, I was reminded of the self-assessment test in Napoleon Hill’s best-selling book, Think and Grow Rich.
There are fifty-four questions in that test, and I’m going to be giving my answers and thoughts on one or two of them as close to daily as I can manage. I may miss a day here or there, but I’m going to follow through until I reach the end of the test.
I’ve started the series of posts with:
Question Number 29. Do you accept responsibility for problems?
I can interpret this question in at least a couple of ways and each interpretation demands a different answer.
For example, perhaps it means that I’m the cause of the problems.
In that case, yes, I accept responsibility and I look for ways not to cause the same or similar problems in the future.
On the other hand, perhaps it means that I find myself in a situation not of my making. Do I accept responsibility for those types of problems.
Of course, I do.
If I’m involved in a situation or other problem, even if it’s not of my own making, then I still accept responsibility for finding a solution.
Who else can I depend upon to solve these problems?
Sure, I could bellyache and whine about it, but that would not do anything constructive to eliminating the problem.
I could get mad at someone and harangue them, but what’s the sense of that?
If I find myself in the middle of a problem or situation, I have to take responsibility, look for solutions, and then implement them the best I can.
I can directly apply that to my affiliate marketing business and the situation I find myself in regarding Mom’s estate.
I don’t think I caused those problems, but I’m certainly involved and therefore I have to accept responsibility for them and try to find a solution.
What about you?
Do you accept responsibility for problems?
All the best,
JD
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Books, Self-Improvement, Success and Failure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:20 am
John,
I accept responsibility for problems I either create or missed when I should have caught it. I don’t take the sword for things that I couldn’t have possibly known. For that reason, I don’t hold everyone accountable for one person’s bad behavior, even if I might hold them accountable for a lot of people’s bad behavior.
Mitch´s last blog ..No-Self Pings
November 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Good afternoon, Mitch.
I’m trying to wrap my brain around your last sentence and just don’t understand what you’re saying.
Can you elucidate?
All the best,
JD
November 11th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hi John,
Let’s use Fort Hood as an example. I don’t hold the base commander at fault for the actions of the idiot that shot all those soldiers because it was one man who ran amok. However, if it were 5 or 6 soldiers, then he would be ultimately responsible, as well as a number of other people, because training and monitoring groups of people is what their responsibility is.
Mitch´s last blog ..A Political Health Care Rant
November 11th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Good afternoon, Mitch.
I can understand that and pretty much agree with you.
However, I think the question revolves around taking personal responsibility for our problems, not assigning responsibility for other problems.
At least, that’s the way I interpret it.
All the best,
JD
November 11th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
And you may be correct, John; that’s how interpretations go, though. lol
Mitch´s last blog ..How The Eating Plan Has Fared
November 11th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Good afternoon, Mitch.
Are interpretations better than assumptions?
Thanks, Mitch.
All the best,
JD