Reflections

Saying something: Part Sixteen - Ownership

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I had an idea a while back to do a little series of posts about things I've learned and applied to my personal and professional life. I'll keep these posts quite short but hope someone reads something they can fit into their own life of they can use to good effect.

Three words I value greatly are ownership, responsibility and discipline and this (and the next two posts in this series) will focus on one of them.

Ownership

This is a small word with a broad scope when applied to a person's life; it can bring immense personal benefit, transform a life in such positive ways if used correctly, and conversely the lack of ownership can have negative effects, hold a person back (or carry them backwards) and prevent progression, development and growth.

There's so many ways a person can show and take ownership and knowing when and how is one of the most important elements; I don't have all the answers, I'm not that smart (no one is), but with a mindset that causes me to apply ownership to myself, thoughts, attitudes and actions, and my life generally I feel I've positioned myself in better ways to find the results I've sought. It's not always easy, taking ownership can be confronting, uncomfortable and even awkward although it speaks highly of one's character if it's applied.

Shifting blame to others is a lack of ownership and blame itself is negative. The failure to say sorry and mean it is a lack of ownership and will effect a person negatively from other people's perspective and from one's own. Making excuses for failure, defeat or poor results is a lack of ownership and is something the weak-minded will do in an attempt to preserve their ego and pride. Negative.

Accepting blame or guilt and finding solutions is ownership. Knowing when to say sorry, why and how (and meaning it) is ownership. Evaluating performance and results and finding better ways forward after a defeat or failure is ownership.

There's a few examples above and while they may be difficult to do...they're really not...it just takes intelligence (mental and emotional) and the right ethos when it comes to the journey of life. Ownership is, in my opinion, critical to a person's life if they want to live their best version of it. .

What do you think? How have you shown personal ownership and have there been times you have not? Feel free to comment.

Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp

_{[Original and AI free]} _{Image(s) in this post are my own}

Comments · 20

@hive-lu(65)· 339d
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@beelzael(75)· 346d
You might be surprised, but I wholeheartedly agree with you. Now, one more linguistic question - what is the difference between "taking ownership" and "taking responsibility" in this case? I kind of thought they were synonyms in this sense. Never mind the question if you think of answering that in the post about responsibility.

Taking ownership is achieving freedom, as by doing so, we're not dependent on anything else anymore.

Something like that is what I wrote in a post a while back, too long to dig up. To blame someone or somebody else, we need them, so we can't be free. Everyone always says "with freedom comes responsibility", but it works the other way around, too, with taking responsibility for our actions, with owning them, we become free.

It's also empowering. That's why it's so important to teach to people, if possible. I mentioned in a comment to a comment below that I try to encourage my co-workers to own their mistakes fully so they can learn and improve, and it's great to see the effects.

Same goes for Lily. I rarely punish her for anything, but encourage her to find solutions. Mostly together, of course, the solutions a 7 year old brings to the table can be rather destructive. But it's showing, as I mentioned in my Saturday Selection post the other day. And it feels great to see that.
@duskobgd(74)· 346d
My personal responsibility, both at work and in my private life, is at a high level, so high that even my superiors praise this quality of mine. It's just a shame when such praise is not accompanied by an adequate reward 🙂 But what can I do, I can't change. so brought up and such an attitude. When I screw something up (although it rarely happens, just for reasons of responsibility, because I approach solving tasks in detail, precisely and professionally, as they say, responsibly), I accept the blame and try to learn something from that mistake.

There was one situation when I was doing a test and thus permanently damaged a piece of electronic equipment. The owner of the company where I work, knowing me and my qualities, accepted my apology and offer to pay the expenses, with the comment: "If it is for the benefit of testing and learning, the company will pay, how else are you going to test, discover something new and move forward".
@krazzytrukker(70)· 346d
I have to agree and go along with @deirdyweirdy on this one. I make even less mistakes than she if that is humanly possible. Behind the 18 wheels of this Prime Mover that is 💯% true.

The rest of my day is a bumbling stumbling display of "oops's and ahh shits..."

Ok, maybe not that bad but when not behind the wheel there is definitely some trial and error in my life.

I will fucking own it. Both behind the wheel and not.
@belkyscabrera(79)· 346d
Blaming others has become very common and is a way of avoiding taking responsibility. It seems that it is easier to blame others and continue through life peacefully. I believe that evaluating and correcting weak areas is of great help to improve. Some responsibilities are demanding and require more than we think, and that is where belonging and commitment are vital.
@tamaralovelace(70)· 346d
That's one of the most important things you can teach to your kids when they are quite young. If they grow up to admit that, then you've done a great job at raising good, sound members of society.
@unitmaster(66)· 346d
I used to think it took a lot of ownership for things. Then, several years ago, I read the book "Extreme Ownership" and it greatly shifted my thinking. It revealed ways I was making excuses for things that might seem to be beyond my control but really aren't.

It's a fantastic book on personal responsibiliy if you ever get a chance to check it out, or know someone struggling with this.
@zakludick(75)· 346d
Indeed. I like the concept and I agree. I did a course on Conflict Management and Anger Management in the workplace and I liked the concept where they may you to analyse how much of your world you think you are able to influence and how much of it is bad, but you just have to accept it.

So that is part of it. Do I have ownership of the shit I have? Or do I blame it on everyone or everything else?

This concept has allowed me to move forward on my own steam instead of being negative and accepting what has happened as all external.
@deirdyweirdy(72)· 346d
When I make a mistake, my first reaction is always disbelief. Surely I couldn’t be at fault. I'm far too meticulous. Still, I have no problem owning up to the small slip-ups. That way, when I make some monumental blunder and deny all responsibility, people are more likely to believe me:)
@bozz(83)· 347d
Ownership is a really good quality to have and I think it kind of goes hand in hand with humility. You need to be humble to be able to take ownership when you mess up. So many of us are lacking in emotional intelligence these days. Perhaps that is the next pandemic :P
@davideownzall(74)· 347d
I had to translate it because I wasn't totally getting it, so now I discovered ownership is for responsibility also, I thought it was owning something, in fact the post wasn't making much sense like this...

Now I get it, yeah I always take ownership, I mean if like I did a bug at work why hide it? Admit it and try and fix, you just look like a fake person irresponsible and not reliable otherwise... Saying sorry is something that people won't do even under torture nowadays...
@indiaunited(71)· 347d
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@steemflow(80)· 347d
It reminded me of my stint with the corporate. Nobody like to take the ownership, and pushing the balls from one table to another. The competitive nature of the world is shifting Everyone likes to remain clean, may be for that they may make others to suffer...ownership is lacking and so does the intent to execute.
@avdesing(80)· 347d
Most people blame others or chance for what happens to them... that's very easy. The hard part is taking responsibility because it involves internal work to accept what we do. Nothing happens by chance; we cause it.

Due to family beliefs, when I was younger, I did what everyone else did: blame others. But when I really realised how responsible we are for everything, thoughts, actions... everything, that's when I was able to repair things I had done wrong. I believe that the words “thank you”, “please” and “sorry” are very important in life, and I use them.

Due to differences in thinking, I have misinterpreted something someone said to me and acted accordingly. When I realise my mistake, I apologise accordingly. I made the mistake, no one else.
@samarijr0(64)· 347d
Well spoken @galenkp, we live in a world today where most people don't know how to take ownership or should I say won't take ownership of situations that were meant to just last for a moment, especially redirecting blames to others instead of owning up and taking responsibility of the situation.
@ellizy(61)· 347d
Sadly, in our world today a lot of people who find themselves in places of authority would rather shift blame rather than accept their mistakes, own it, apologize when necessary and move on.

I believe we still have people who do this without shame just that they might be few of them.
@rainbowdash4l(71)· 347d
I definitly believe that ownership is the key to happyness - that life no longer just happens to you but you gain into control.

While taking ownership is definitly a skill to master - infact it is also the first of the 'The 7 habits of highly effective people' by Stephen Covey

For me personally - the biggest challenge is not to take ownership for things that are not mine. While my sense of responsibility is helping at times - I noticed that that I quickly take over responsibilities from others and thereby deprive them of a learning opportunity. I did this at work but also with my kids (being a bit overprotective). Keeping a simple journal on this, reflecting and also to come back at this as it occured helped a great deal to change this for the better!

(p.s. I followed your advice and stopped the large delegation - taking ownership :) )
@devmamun(53)· 347d
I’ve found that when I stop making excuses and just accept my part in a mistake, things actually get easier because I can move forward faster. Like you said, it’s not always comfortable, but it helps build trust with others and with yourself.

I think real growth starts when we choose ownership over blame.
@holoz0r(78)· 347d
Setting the correct expectation is always the first step to ownership, in my view. If something cannot be delivered or not within the promised timeframe, an explanation (not excuses) is deserved, as well as a revised timeline - but it should never get to that point.

It should be communicated as early as possible in the piece in order to avoid that situation from happening in the first place, and for the correct priorities and outputs to be reset.
@tigrace(65)· 347d
Reading this feels like you're directly talking to me. At some point in my life, if anything happens, the first thing I do is to look for who to blame. My husband try telling me to always take ownership of whatever that happens whether good or bad.

And as time goes on, I come to realize that taking ownership doesn't mean that, I'm a bad person or a failure, it means that I have admit my wrongs and ready to do my best next time. Thank you.

Ownership

Comments · 20

Hello galenkp!

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