“Character is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life. It’s the source from which self-respect springs.” – Joan Didion

“Owning actions” often brings a somber tone to it.

We can adjust that, for the better.
And the quote above offers an angle on how we can do that.

Instead of carrying a “fault” theme, we can take a different lens to ownership. That of positive control.

Take for example “not getting the job”.

We can decide that we won’t own it, and say something along the lines of “the recruiter was just playing favorites”. From this point, where does one go next? Are we qualified enough, and for reasons outside of our control… we just didn’t get the job? And that if the same thing happens tomorrow, we’re doomed for a repeat?

Now let’s flip. Let’s say the same person decides they will own “not getting the job”.
They decide that they want to become over-qualified. They sign up for the next course to push their accreditation to the next level, resulting in an even stronger, smarter, and more powerful candidate.

One person has control over the next step, and uses it to their advantage.
One does not, and stays exactly where they are.

We owe it to ourselves to stay in the driver seat.