Owning Our Choices: Why We Should Take Responsibility For Our Life To Succeed
When we believe in our abilities we are almost halfway to our goal. By cultivating a growth mindset and shifting our energy, effort, and focus on things we can control, we start to move forward.
I want to discuss the importance of taking full responsibility for our life because the right type of mindset is life changing and essential for achieving our dreams. I believe that we can hugely influence our life by our daily choices and actions. Still, there are always going to be factors and obstacles that are beyond our control. None of us has an easy life or even close to perfect; We all face major challenges sooner or later in life. Nonetheless, choosing to take responsibility for our life is paramount to success.
Taking Full Responsibility in the Dystopian Society
This topic came to my mind when I started reading the book Atlas Shrugged by Russian-born American writer Ayn Rand. The book was originally published in 1957. It’s fiction and set in a dystopian society. The edition that I purchased also includes a reader's guide to the writings and philosophy of Ayn Rand. The book is 1,200 pages long. I haven’t finished the entire book and therefore, I haven’t formed my opinion yet.
Atlas Shrugged has always been controversial - some people love it and some hate it because of its philosophical and political content. Since I heard Atlas Shrugged mentioned several times by Lex Fridman, Jordan Peterson and many other thinkers on Youtube I like to listen to, I decided to get the book and dig deeper to learn about Rand’s philosophy and worldview. Atlas Shrugged is an interesting book even if you don’t buy into Rand’s whole philosophy of Objectivism that emphasizes individualism, freedom, and working hard for success. The book is a great reminder of what can happen when the majority of people in society don’t take responsibility and are not interested in productive work, and how society can fall apart when there is too much government control over the economy. Rand was a strong supporter of capitalism and more specifically laissez-faire capitalism with the separation of state and economics, and she believed the government's sole role should be to protect individual’s right to think, to produce, to trade and to pursue their own life and happiness.
What is really interesting is that until last year I hadn’t even heard of Atlas Shrugged in Finland where I live. The ideology of Rand and cultural differences could explain why the book is not as popular in Europe as it is in the United States. Social democracy and a relatively strong welfare state model dominate in Northern and - to some degree - in Western European countries meaning that Europe in general is not as capitalist or free market as the United States. In Europe most people expect to have a more equal society and are willing to pay higher taxes to get “free” healthcare and education. For instance the government expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) in Finland is over 50% year after year. To be more specific, in 2022 the ratio was 53.05% in Finland. In comparison in 2022 the ratio was 36.26% in the US. What I found very interesting is the case of Estonia: the small country that has rapidly grown since the collapse of the Soviet Union had the ratio of government spending of 39.62% in 2022. Even Norway had the ratio of 38.52% - much lower than Finland.
Furthermore, there is much more regulation in the European Union than in the US to protect consumers against big corporations. European workers typically have more job security and access to benefits than in the US. The US seems to prioritize innovation, competition and economic growth whereas in many European countries social welfare programs seem to be top priority at the cost of productive businesses and economic growth. Having said that, the US is way closer to Rand's ideal world than European countries, and I can now understand why Rand is hardly known in Europe.
Personally I do believe in capitalism because at the end of the day that’s how we generate more innovation, and wealth, and it has been the most efficient way to raise living standards all over the world. Social benefits or money rarely fix the root of the problems people have in their life. When we achieve things and create something valuable to this world, life also becomes more meaningful. I do think though that we should take care of those in need: those people who cannot work and or take care of themselves due to severe illness, disability or something similar. Helping the most vulnerable is a sign of civilized society. Yet, I don’t think we necessarily need a government to do that. And certainly, we should not have a social system that gives social benefits for those who have relatively healthy bodies and minds but “just don’t feel like'' working. I would be curious to know whether the private sector could be more efficient and innovative in providing social services than the public sector. It’s hard to imagine that heavy social welfare systems financed by taxes and debt - like the ones we have in Finland - can be sustained in the long term. In my opinion Finland has a scarily huge public sector which encourages laziness and mediocracy. Similarly, high taxes can scare off many potential investors, which ultimately reduces economic growth. I don’t idealize capitalism in its freest - laissez-faire - form like Rand did because of some major concerns related to it, such as information asymmetries that bad actors can take advantage of and operate for too long. It’s worth noting that a laissez-faire economy does not exist in reality. Even in countries with high Libertarian values there are some levels of government regulation and intervention.
Adopt a Growth Mindset For Success
I believe that we as individuals know best what is most beneficial for us when given complete, unbiased information and the chance to choose freely. I don’t think that governments would ever be better at making decisions for individuals - especially if these decisions are made on a more global level. Central-planning and strict regulations only lead to collective misery as socialism and communism have demonstrated in the past. On the contrary, it’s empowering for individuals to have the opportunity to take full responsibility for their life, and to have a chance to change the trajectory of their life by their actions whenever they want and not to be so dependent on the state.
I like the definition of growth mindset by Carol Dweck, PhD, meaning that those with a growth mindset believe that their talents and abilities can be developed through hard work, good teaching, and discipline. They understand that not everyone is going to be an aerospace engineer or high level athlete, but they know that they can improve their skills and become a better version of themselves. Whereas those with a fixed mindset believe that their basic abilities, intellect, and talents are fixed traits. Unsurprisingly, those with a growth mindset tend to overcome challenges better than those with a fixed mindset. By adopting a growth mindset we are more likely to learn from our mistakes and become more open to new opportunities. Nothing is as harmful as a victim mentality, and belief that the world is against us or that we have no control over situations. Typically people with a victim mentality have a long list of excuses for not taking action, they blame others, and choose not to take responsibility. That is very paralyzing and depressing. We cannot sit around and wait on somebody to save us. Very likely that savior is not even going to arrive. It is up to us to save ourselves. When we have the mindset and habit of taking responsibility for our choices and actions we become more forward looking, proactive about finding and solving problems, and open to learning.
Moreover, if someone succeeds, we should celebrate that. Often we can all benefit from their success. Maybe they have built an innovative business that generates ideas, knowledge, wealth, and abundance into the whole world. It could be amazing new technology that becomes available to all of us, or maybe it's a business employing tens, hundreds or even thousands of people keeping them and their families thriving and alive. I am not saying that all businesses were great because we have all heard stories about corporate scandals: toxic chemicals leaking into nature, Ponzi schemes, unsafe working conditions, or otherwise unethical conduct. However, in my view, businesses need to generate more good than do harm in order to succeed in open, competitive markets in the long term. An unfair game is not going to work. All in all, we should reward and recognise achievements - and not punish them through taxation, over-strict regulation, envy, or hate.
Finally, someone else’s success is not our failure because there is no upper limit on success stories in this world whether that happens on an individual level or on a larger societal level. It’s a very reductionist worldview to think that their success would be somehow away from our own. Very likely we can all learn something from their success story and use that as an inspiration when we work on our own dreams. We too can find our passion, become more productive and learn to think independently.
What Sets Your Soul on Fire
I think the most important thing is to find our passion, the one thing that sets our soul on fire. Usually we know deep down the thing that comes very naturally to us. We don’t have to be the best at it but doing our thing just feels right and it is something where we want to develop our skills. We are all inherently unique with a unique set of skills which makes us irreplaceable. When we harness our skills and embrace our authenticity, we become unstoppable.
When we are passionate about something every obstacle becomes like a challenge we want to overcome instead of giving up. One of the most valuable pieces of advice I have heard from successful people is that we should start by focusing on one thing and get a deep understanding of it. And do our best to get the best possible training we can to build skills in our chosen area of interest. The world is full of talented people and thus, taking our role seriously and doing the best we can is crucial. People will notice how passionate we are about something and they want to work with us.
Sometimes we need to make sacrifices but we also should be proud of our achievements and dedication in a healthy way. When we generate value for others in the form of products or services we should also get our fair reward in return. Cooperation is tremendously valuable and I cannot highlight this enough. In this complex world it’s impossible to do everything perfectly on your own. Time is scarce and therefore, we want to learn to use it smartly. For me this has always been challenging: I want to work with those who have similar goals and are trustworthy. When the goals don’t match it’s impossible to cooperate. Through trial and error we can find our tribe of like-minded souls.
Finally, have the courage to share your passion and skills with the world. The world can be a hard place at times and we can be afraid of the criticism but everyone receives negative feedback and judgment sooner or later. The more we show up, the easier it becomes. We will grow a thicker skin and realize how some of the feedback is valuable and some of it is only useless noise. When we use constructive feedback to improve, we become an even brighter version of ourselves.
Sending you so much love and peace!
Resources:
Articles:
HBR: Take Ownership of Your Actions by Taking Responsibility
HBR: What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means? By Carol Dweck, PhD
Capitalism - The Ayn Rand Institute
Books:
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Other:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ayn Rand
Statista.com