Stop Complaining and Start Taking Responsibility for Life.

It’s the Only Way to Make an Impact.

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In 2007, a Nebraska senator tried to sue God. He was seeking restitution for the “widespread death, destruction, and terrorization of millions upon millions of Earth’s inhabitants.” The court eventually threw out the lawsuit as they couldn’t deliver a subpoena to God, not knowing his address.

At some point in life, we all learn one brutal truth — we can’t control many of the things that happen to us. At that point, we all have the same choice. We can acknowledge this and focus on what we can control. Or we can ignore it and pour our time and energy into things we can’t change. We can take responsibility and focus on having an impact. Or we can try to sue God for perceived injustices.

We all know people who choose the latter. Those that refuse to take responsibility become toxic bosses and nonstop complainers. They try to minimize risk by controlling everything. They try to force others to change and rarely look at how their own behaviors could improve a situation. They’re the consummate victims, always reacting and never influencing.

When people fail to recognize that many things in life are outside of their control, the obvious conclusion is that they can control everything. It may sound ridiculous, although not quite as ridiculous as trying to sue God, but this mentality seeps into those who refuse to recognize their own limitations.

“It’s a trap!” as Admiral Ackbar would say. The more people believe that they can influence those things outside of their control, the more they’ll naturally choose the path of least resistance. If they believe that they can change others, there’s no reason for them to change themselves. If they think that they can force external events to support their needs, there’s no driver for internal changes.

In trying to influence everything, they end up influencing nothing. In focusing on everything outside of their control, they don’t take responsibility for things they can improve.

The alternative is to focus purely on your own actions and start taking responsibility for how you can make an impact. It’s easy to say and tough to do. Complaining is easy. Expecting other people to change is easy. Actually changing…