There is a young man with whom I have had the privilege of working, and who seemed to have every disadvantage: His father died when he was a child, his mother is an alcoholic, addicted to drugs, and he was a high school drop-out. Rather than making excuses for the cards that life dealt him, this young man returned to school to get his GED, and he recently enrolled in college.
It takes him an hour to get to school on public transportation, and an hour to get home after he leaves the library. About a month into the semester, I asked him how he was doing in school. He said that he was doing well, but that he didn’t have any books for his classes. He couldn’t afford them.
So you're asking, "how he had been keeping up with his homework assignments?" He told me that he had been staying in the library until his homework was finished, sometimes leaving campus at nine or ten o’clock at night, then catching the bus home.
Rather than making excuses about why he couldn’t complete his homework, this young man went to the library every night to use the books in the library, and then caught the late bus home!
He took responsibility for his own success. He didn’t blame his mother for being on drugs. He didn’t even blame society for the fact that he couldn’t afford books. Instead, he took ownership of his situation, and decided to change it. 
I was so pleased to hear that because of his hard work, this young man received a full scholarship that pays for all of his college tuition and books.To take responsibility means to recognize that you have the power to choose how you will respond to whatever comes your way.
In between every action and your response to that action is a space- a gap- where you have the power to decide how you are going to respond. After the stimulus, and before your response to that stimulus, you have the power to make a choice about how you are going to handle or address the situation.
In other words, don’t blame anyone else for your results or situation. That's not going to solve your problem. Take action, make a decision, change your life!
From Take Matters Into Your Own Hands: Dream Now! by Manuel Scott.
Get your copy today by clicking HERE.
