responsibility | Craig T. Owens

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What’s Your Excuse?

February 25, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

It’s so easy to make excuses, isn’t it?

I wasn’t feeling well
I don’t have enough training
The sun was in my eye
The other guy was supposed to….
I don’t have the right tools
If only….
I can’t because….

John Maxwell has started a new teaching series where he presents a one-minute lesson on one word every day. Today’s lesson was on excuses. Watch the clip here.

Here are some other quotes on excuses:

“Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” —George Washington Carver

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses only results.” —Kenneth Blanchard

“Obstacles are not excuses for failure, they are opportunities for growth.” —Craig T. Owens

“People who are good at making excuses are seldom good at anything else.” —Benjamin Franklin

Let’s stop making excuses and start taking responsibility!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Benjamin Franklin, commitment, excuses, failure, George Washington Carver, growth mindset, John Maxwell, Kenneth Blanchard, personal growth, quotes, responsibility, success. Leave a Comment »

My Brother’s Keeper…

June 10, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

…is not Finder’s Keeper.

Society has it backward: On the playground, on the worksite, and sadly even in the church, we tend to play by the opposite:

I found it, so I get to keep it!
Hey, I’m not my brother’s keeper!

Look at what God says:

If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep or goat wandering away, don’t ignore your responsibility. Take it back to its owner. If its owner does not live nearby or you don’t know who the owner is, take it to your place and keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then you must return it.

My brother’s property is my responsibility. Notice that even if I don’t know who the owner is, I’m still supposed to safeguard his property until I can return it to him.

Finding something that isn’t mine makes me responsible to care for it. I am my brother’s keeper; it’s not simply finder’s keeper.

What if my mindset changed to, This is yours, but I’m going to take care of it like it’s mine until I can return it to you?

What if my values became focused on…

Mutual accountability?
Shared responsibility?
Genuine community?

I must be the change I wish for our society. I need to care for anothers’ property as much as I care for my own.

Would you join me in changing your community away from Finder’s Keeper and toward Brother’s Keeper?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: accountability, community involvement, counter-cultural, Deuteronomy, responsibility. 1 Comment »

Do You Really Want To Be Accountable?

January 12, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I have a great friend. He is the brother I never had, but he is more than any brother I could have ever hoped for. We are brothers like David and Jonathan were brothers in the Bible. We are covenant brothers (we’ve coined the shorthand CovBro).

What is accountability? The dictionary simply says it means “to give an account or to give an answer.” It doesn’t say “to give an excuse or to give the rationale.”

Accountability means there is only black and white. No gray. Either I did what I was supposed to do. Or I didn’t. King Solomon said it this way:

Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.

Before it’s time to give an account to God, wouldn’t you like someone else to hold you accountable? I would!

In this everything’s-relevant, I’m-not-responsible-for-my-own-actions world, finding someone who will actually hold you to a rigid “Yes, I did it” or “No, I didn’t do it” standard is rare. But my CovBro is one who holds me accountable.

When we meet each month, he asks me the hard questions:

How are your business dealings?
Are you spending enough time with God?
Are you doing what God has called you to do?
What’s happening in your marriage? Your relationship with your kids? Your church?

He gets my internet usage report from X3 Watch. He is the iron that sharpens my iron. He accepts no wishy-washy answers nor any flimsy excuses. I do the same for him. And we’re both better off for it.

Do you really want to be accountable? Then find someone that loves you too much to let you get away with anything less than your very best. Someone who will hold you to God’s standards. Someone who will sharpen your iron. It can be painful. But the results are so worth it!