No Joy without Responsibility

A future of action without regrets

Sure the current state of affairs is fine. You have everything you need. Life is good. Of course there more, right?

Tomorrow does not happen without the seed of today.

All the hopes, dreams, and grand visions we have for the future will not manifest themselves without some effort today. We either drive our growth or it drives us. It’s gonna happen whether or not we start it.

The grass may not be greener on the other side, but it will continue to grow. All our hard work of the past can quickly vanish. Layoffs happen everyday. Markets crash. Product life cycles end. Relationships run their course.

This is not doomsday or pessimistic rhetoric. It’s an opportunity to have a continual conversation with yourself about your future. Wouldn’t you prefer to be the one who decides when to cut the grass or when to let it grow?

It’s time to reach for your point of growth!

There is no joy without responsibility.

Without an effort to continually grow, we neglect our responsibility to ourselves and those who care about us. We just drift along until we no longer recognize who or where we are. Into the abyss we go!

Responsibility is a funny animal. What are we really responsible for? The people we work with? Our parents? Friends? Spouse? Kids? Money? Our attitude and behavior? The list goes on and on.

I don’t know if there is any one answer here. The personal responsibility you feel is largely dependent on who you are as a person. I do think the amount of drifting we do is directly related to the amount of personal responsibility we feel.

Obligation and responsibility are not the same thing.

Obligations can suck the life out of us. We may have an obligation to do something today, but we do not have a responsibility for continuing to do so. In other words, obligations are not permanent. They can be terminated or negotiated into a more amenable and painless activity.

Responsibility is something we are driven to do without the handcuffs of obligation. Without a sense of responsibility, we drift. We don’t take the action we need to continue to grow. Responsibility is the motivation we leverage to avoid falling into the abyss.

Watching the grass grow may feel unencumbered and free, but it is anything but that. Neglecting our daily responsibilities of fertilizing and water our grass will lead to regrets. Regrets carry a tremendous emotion avalanche of unwanted burden. Living with regret will suck the joy out of life.

Personal responsibility drives the joy we feel. Without it, we have no joy. We only have regrets.

Joyful optimism comes from continual growth.

We must seek growth not because of external pressures or obligation, but for ourselves. We cannot rely on our rationale brain to drive us. All this analytical self-analysis may help us understand the growth we want. It will not motivate us to take action.

Joyful optimism is doing something we deeply care about for ourselves. It’s an emotional response triggered by our personal responsibility.

Your present self is afraid of your joyful future self.

We reach the point of growth when we decide we will no longer act out of dutiful responsibility or obligation. We bring our whole being to act with care, compassion, and no regrets.

By leveraging our emotional motivation, we take actions that will yield different results than before. Action provides the water and fertilizers for our grass to continue growing. A healthy lawn is a joyful future self.

A future where we no longer accept the unfulfilled promise of tomorrow. A future where we create a daily point of growth. A future where we honor ourselves and take personal responsibility for the life we are choosing to live. This is our future of action without regrets.

What will you do to grow your future lawn today?