The 5th and final step in our series on moving from Goals to Abundant Declarations is the conscious pattern of Personal Responsibility.  In my book, Coaching Into Greatness, I define Personal Responsibility as releasing blame and vicitmization to become fully responsible for your life.

It's no mistake that this conscious pattern is one of three that makes up the Abundance Aptitude of Surrender.  Taking Personal Responsibility is as much about what you let go of as it is about what you hold onto and claim as your own. 

Goals are a source of scarcity when you find yourself playing the Contingency Game.  For example, one of my clients had a big dream of moving his business out of the basement of his home and into an office park.  He told himself for over a year that he couldn't accomplish this until he had x number of clients, and he couldn't reach that number of clients because he was a solo-preneur and was working as hard as he could.  He needed office support, but he told himself he couldn't hire anyone until he got office space because it wasn't professional to have staff working out of his basement. 

Kinda' like a dog chasing after it's tail.

Of course my client was wise not to jump into space he couldn't afford.  I'm not saying he should have gotten in over his head.  But his inability to see how he was stuck in the contingency of "If . . . then" kept him from taking Personal Responsibility for what he could control, moving forward and reaching his goals. He was blaming his present circumstances for his future failures, all the while forgetting that he was in control of his business, he made the decisions.

Eventually, through our coaching, the solo-preneur hired part time help which freed him up to work more on the business than in it.  He was able to spend more time selling and aquiring new clients, which increased his revenues and enabled him to move into an office space.

Is Contingency causing you to avoid taking Personal Responsibility?