Have you ever thought much about responsibility? On first thought, we might think of responsibility as being an awesome burden. However, we need to think of responsibility not as a burden but the key that enables us to exercise control over our own destiny.

By taking responsibility we are able to move in the direction of our dreams and visions of satisfaction and success. Responsibility can be the catalyst that fully engages the best of who we truly are.

Responsibility can be difficult. It may be time-consuming, unfair, inconvenient and uncomfortable. Yet responsibility also brings us to a level of empowerment that cannot be reached in any other way.

At the core of true achievement, success and fulfillment is responsibility. An essential element of meaningful fulfillment is responsibility.

Every great opportunity is an opportunity to take responsibility. Whatever the situation, the most successful way forward is to act with responsibility.

No matter what has happened, or who is to blame, or how it all came to be, we need to take full responsibility for our actions and our life. John F. Kennedy said “Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us, instead, accept our own responsibility for the future.”

This sentiment also was shared by Eleanor Roosevelt. “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves,” she said. “The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

At the end of the day, it is the individual who holds the power to influence the future but the price of achievement, success and greatness is responsibility.