“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” – George Bernard Shaw

Then there are those of us who wait. We wait for circumstances to change before moving into action. On the surface this may seem like a very sound idea. But a closer look reveals that what we are really doing is relinquishing our power.

The majority of people in the world today are of the firm belief that their lives are not their own – that they have very little power over what happens to them on a daily basis. There is a feeling that their lives have careened totally out of control and that there is very little that they can do about it.

“I’ve always loved this success quote by Shaw,” says Dave Navarro “because it takes a common perspective on life – namely, that life is a series of events you have to react to – and turns it on its ear. In reality, where you end up has less to do with your circumstances than with where you decide to go in spite of your circumstances.”

But this is easier said than done. It’s easy to let the circumstances of our day – our present financial situation, our boss who is a jerk, our deteriorating fitness levels, our general frustrations – be the defining factor of where our life is heading. It’s a simple thing to let yourself be discouraged by all the things that are going wrong in your life and feel that you can’t turn your life around.

But “easier said than done” doesn’t get us out of taking 100% responsibility for our lives. Even though it’s not easy the reality is that no one is going to change our lives except us. Only YOU can change your life!

But are we taking 100% responsibility for our lives? How many times have we heard ourselves or others around us say:

“I’m not paid to do that”

“This is not my responsibility”

“I’ll be damned if I’ll do anything I’m not paid for.”

Understand that this type of mentality only leads to one getting life’s minimum. Life is exceedingly fair. You get what you are determined to get or settle for whatever you get by doing nothing. Put another way – if you have a definite goal in life and you choose for example to no longer lead a life indebted and living paycheck to paycheck AND you devise a plan for making this situation a reality AND commit to your plan of action no matter what – life WILL give you what you’re after. However if you adopt the attitude that there’s no way out – life will give you that too!

Most of us are prepared to do nothing about our lives because we either feel we are powerless, don’t want to fail or have tried before and met with defeat and so re-assigned ourselves to the ‘do-nothing’ position. I think that if we understood that on our journey to better that things will fall apart – not because of us but in spite of us – then it would take some pressure off of us and remove the thought in our brain that says that we have to be successful the first time we try something and if it doesn’t work it means that it wasn’t supposed to be!

I love this law by Dave Navarro: A circumstance is a fact. A circumstance with an opinion is an excuse.

It’s a tough law to swallow, because we all like making excuses. Excuses help us get out of taking action as well as help us get out of feeling guilty about our decisions.

Your circumstances may appear as roadblocks. But what if you viewed them as if they were tests – challenges that you must face in order to help you create more discipline, more courage, more staying power, and more creativity … everything you will need to meet your goals in the future?

So take another look at your circumstances. What if you stopped looking at that situation as a roadblock and instead decided to take it as the challenge that it is and that you are destined to work around? The pressure is on in your life because you’re a diamond in the making and diamonds don’t form without pressure.

Start planning now. Learn how to leverage the pressure you’re experiencing and find out how to transform what’s currently challenging you into one of the best things that has ever happened to you in your life.  You’ll never stop thanking yourself this one decision!