The Truth Will Set You Free – Part 5 of 20

I recently read a post on Johnny B. Truant’s blog that really hit home. So much so that I wanted to do two things: share it with my readers and 2) think on and write about each piece of his post. The post is “20 Truths About Life No One Wants To Believe” and the fifth one I am going to tackle is:

5. Bitching won’t make your problems go away.
This one is hilarious to see in action. Why does your father always complain about his crappy car? Why does your neighbor complain about the government and taxes? Bitching and complaining does nothing. Action does something, but bitching is not action. Bitching is bitching. Yet people do it fervently, as if they think that bitching enough will, by itself, solve the problem.

I share Johnny’s astonishment that people will whine, moan, complain and bitch about their lives.

The simple fact is that these people are abdicating responsibility for their lives.

They are giving their power away: to people, circumstances and trends – to things outside themselves.

And there’s no quicker way to create feelings of powerlessness, frustration, and at times, anger than to complain.

(And what happens, when people feel like that? What do they do? They whine, moan, complain and bitch – and they feel the same or worse… it’s a downward spiral.)

The precursor to taking action is taking responsibility.

When you take a sober, judgement-free, view of your life and acknowledge that you either had some role in creating things – or realize that you’re putting up with them out if laziness or a desire for the familiar – you can begin to change things.

That’s when you can begin to truly own your life – and, if you want, to stop bitching and get on with creating your life.

Similar Posts

  • The Fool’s Game of Balance

    The idea of balance is prevalent for people today, Specifically, the meme of work/life balance. Many see this as a call to allocate one’s life in certain proportions. As if there is an ideal amount of time for each area that will “balance” the scales, and presumably, result in happiness and fulfillment at work and…

  • |

    The 99/1 Practice (and how it will transform your life)

    There’s something you can do 1% of the time, that will utterly – and positively – transform your life. I call it the 99/1 Practice. *  *  * One of the, if not the most, important things you can do to live well and achieve important, meaningful goals is to regularly plan and strategize. But the vast majority…

  • Start With Why

    This week’s external resource is another TED talk (what can I say, they’re brilliant!?), this time from Simon Sinek. In this video he exhorts leaders – and really all of us – to come-from why in terms of leadership, or sales, or living your life, or… Click here to watch the video and, if it impacts your…

  • The Primacy of Emotions

    “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” – Zig Ziglar In fact, emotions are why we do everything. Logical, thoughtful, consideration may be a precursor to action, but without the animating energy of emotions nothing happens. Yes, our thoughts determine our lives, but emotions actually create our lives. I recently had…

  • A View of Leadership

    There is the timeless, changeless core: our humanity — that which we truly ARE, what we have always been (regardless of our (sometimes) behavior to the contrary). And then there is the external: behavior — that which must interact and adapt, this is what leaders DO. The core is who they are, behavior is what they do….