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Why Your Success Is YOUR Responsibility (and Why That’s a Good Thing)

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Do you daydream your time away, creating pinch-worthy scenarios in your mind? Is your vision board plastered in your office or home for all to see? And yet, sometimes you wonder why you haven’t yet reached those goals or juicy photos you see hanging above you. Are you wondering how to create more success in your life?

As you probably know, there’s more to achieving our dreams than simply thinking about them. The visions you escape into can be reality, but only if you take radical responsibility for developing them.

You are not crazy for wanting a dream life, but you are if you don’t put in work for it. 

With tools like manifestation becoming increasingly popular by the second, our dreamiest desires appear within reach…and just a thought away.

After all, as Mike Dooley says in the book Leveraging the Universe: Your thoughts and words create your reality…right?

Yes…but there’s a bit more to it than that.

In my experience, creating your dream life is not about sitting on the top of a mountain merely meditating your way to success; it’s about taking action too.

After all, anyone can have big dreams, but when you’re faced with the reality of moving towards them today, that’s when things get tricky.

… which inspired me to write this blog about YOUR responsibility to your success.

In this post, I’ll be revealing the toolkit you can use to be truly successful. I’ll dive into your role in success, how to honor your vision, and a guide on the beginning phases of taking inspired action.

So let’s get to it…

Taking Responsibility For Your Success

When thinking about your dream life, who is the center of it? You, of course! When your imagination runs wild, it’s yourself typically experiencing the most of it.

Dreaming, especially about life, gives us agency to get bold with our wants. This energy force drives our inspiration, and it all comes from within. The question shouldn’t be if it’s possible or not, but how you can make it achievable.

Who you are in those dreams is the best version of yourself. That version of you has overcome the conditionings, self-sabotaging behaviors, and limiting beliefs keeping you stagnant. It’s essential to believe your dreams are possible, but you also have the power to reach them. Let this be a reminder that YOU are the main character, and this is your story! Take the path of success that aligns with your values.

Want to live your dream? Live it for YOURSELF…

My journey towards success has been full of trials (and many errors). Many driven women, myself included, will admit how many obstacles they face to reach the final destination. And what’s something we all have in common? Our journey to success highlights necessary character growth. Therefore, we experience success when we welcome the best version of ourselves.

When we truly believe that anything is possible, we are creating space for our transformation! If you truly want to live a life reflective of your desires, use them to empower your daily actions. Pursuing your dreams means learning how to harmonize your present and future self.

I know the many tools that helped carry my dreams into reality are not the only ones to thank. If I never took accountability for my own life, I would have not reached the level of success I have in life and business. Achieving my standard of success has shown me the importance of responsibility, more so how it looks daily.

Think about it – when you think of someone responsible for something not happening in your life (or even blame someone else for your results), you’re giving away your power and there’s no possibility of change. With taking responsibility, the opposite happens.

Woman working on computer

How To Take Responsibility For Your Success

There are principles to live by when taking responsibility for your success. First and foremost, your job is to be genuine, gradual, and gracious with yourself. Becoming successful, specifically to your standards, is a process in itself. So, don’t rush the process, but continue to take action.

1. Living With Intention

An intention is a deliberate definition or reason behind any action you take. For example, my intention for running the I Heart My Life brand is to help transform lives and share valuable content that will support driven women in creating a life they love.

And by the way – your intention should feel good! And you should be excited by the results. For example, maybe you have the intention of improving your health. Although you may not love the idea of exercise, you love the result it will bring and thus the action is aligned with your intention.

When navigating intention, let joy be the compass. 

  • Are you just sitting behind the computer to pass the time, or are you creating something meaningful? 
  • Do you feel lit up in your line of work?
  • Are you permitting yourself to live life for enjoyment?
  • When you wake up, what’s the first thing your energy craves?
  • Do you feel aligned with your passions?

Achievement isn’t about deprivation or being miserable. When you’re connected to the intention, you’ll be able to stay the path even during challenging moments.

2. Focusing on what you DO want

I often meet people who are very sure of what they do not want in life. Which begs the question: what DO they want? If you’re familiar with the Law of Attraction, you know that “like attracts like”. Therefore, only focusing on the undesirable things in life will attract opportunities of a similar standard. The mind doesn’t hear that it’s what you don’t want … it just sees you focusing on it!

Instead of pushing away everything you could do without, put your focus on what you want MOST.

  • What thoughts and actions do you want to be feeling every time you make decisions for your business or career?
  • When you think of success to your standards, what immediately comes up?
  • What are the most crucial traits to you when feeling successful?
  • Do you want to experience abundance or scarcity?

Investing energy into things aligning most with your values will help you attract the opportunities that you desire.

I myself used to live in scarcity mode, only focusing on what I lacked rather than everything I had to gain. During that time, I felt anxious, stressed and confused. But once I realized that focusing on what I did want would bring more of it into my life (and I saw that firsthand) everything started to change.

3. Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

We’ve all heard the phrase “consistency is key”. It most certainly is and can apply to our health, business/career, relationships, and even our mindset.

What’s essential to remember when striving towards success is not about overexerting yourself or burning out…it’s about what’s sustainable for you. (And by the way, that’s different for everyone!)

  • Quality over Quantity: Tackling one or two goals a day rather than spreading yourself thin over six or seven will help you achieve more over time (and with less stress!).
  • Develop long-term habits: Your well-being comes first! That includes healthy doses of rest, time for yourself, and reassessing the big picture of your dream life so it’s the most aligned one imaginable.
  • Daily non-negotiables: What do you need to do every day to show up fully and wholeheartedly? It can be as simple as a morning workout, daily meditation, or reaching out to check-in on clients!
  • Embrace mistakes: You are a human first, so honor that part of you. Take the setbacks as opportunities to learn for next time!
  • Reward yourself: Yes, you deserve recognition for your hard work! Applaud your determination to see things through with some TLC or a celebration!

4. Setting Small Goals for the BIG Picture

I didn’t earn my first million overnight— I earned it through 18 months of persistence. (And by the way…18 months isn’t the norm so please don’t take it to be. There’s no perfect timeline and everyone’s path is different!)

Many people make the mistake of hitting the ground hard and sprinting from the start. In reality, life is one lengthy marathon. Finding your pace requires a heightened awareness of how you work, what strategies work best for you, and using the unique skill set that you possess.

When you think of your future, do you see five years ahead? Ten years ahead? That’s a healthy amount of time between now and then, which is grea for your big goals ane desires! Knowing what you want the bigger picture to present will help you get clear on the exact ways you can get there.

Imagine your dream life:

  • What details do you envision for your business or career?
  • When you envision your dream home, is it somewhere specific?
  • Would you like to have time for vacation or family events?

Once you finalize the finer details of your dreams, you can craft shorter-term goals to reach them. That will not just pace you but keep you grounded and committed to your version of success.

And remember, anyone can have big long-term goals, but you have to get real about whether you’re actually moving toward them or keeping them at arm’s length.

Planner on a bed

Life Is Meant To Be Lived, Not Tolerated…

I created my business to spark the entrepreneurial gene in every woman I meet. We are all destined to explore the many possibilities life holds for us, so why not take every chance we get?

I know it’s terrifying to grab life by the wheel and be in the driver’s seat. But you will find that it is much more liberating to be in control of your journey than to watch it fly by in the back seat. Success is in store for you, but only if you embrace inspired action as the map to lead you there!

P.S. We cover mindset content like this and support you in taking radical responsibility and creating change in your life in IHML Membership every month. We’ll be opening the doors again soon so make sure to get on the waiting list here.

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BEHIND THE Brand

Hi, I'm  Emily

I'm just a girl from Ohio with really big dreams, but the truth is, I always knew I was meant for more. I know firsthand what it means to feel that you're not living the life that you want, and yet not know how to make it happen. To wonder with each passing day, when your life is finally going to "get good". I've been there. Since transforming my own life, I've gone on to help thousands of women just like you so you can finally achieve your true potential and ultimately, create a life that's better than your dreams. If I can do it, you can too.

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