Owning It

"I've made some mistakes, but they're mistakes I take full responsibility for."
--Coach Norman Dale (Hoosiers)

A characteristic of maturity is self-responsibility. By this we mean taking responsibility for one's actions--particularly when the outcomes are negative or undesirable.

Immature individuals avoid self-responsibility. Instead, they prefer to blame their actions and outcomes on outside influences. Other people, the environment. 1970s comedian Flip Wilson famously joked "The devil made me do it."

Stated differently, mature people own their actions, immature people do not.

We've been seeing classic examples of people who do not want to own their actions and their outcomes in this presidential election cycle. It's the other guy...even the Russians.

Such a blame game ensures further failure.

Owning it turns the future toward success.