“Clients just don’t want to pay what they used to pay.”

“The judge is an idiot.”

“The client screwed up the case, and there’s nothing I can do.”

“The paralegal dropped the ball, and it didn’t get filed.”

“The witness was terrible.”

You can blame others when things go wrong. That makes you feel better.

Or you can take the blame. You can say “I dropped the ball; I should have done a better job of [fill in the blank].”

You Can Feel Better, Or You Can Make Things Better

The only way you can make things better is to take the blame. It’s when you take the blame that you take responsibility for the problem. That’s when the improvement starts to happen.

• “I should have made more of an effort on marketing.”
• “I should have vetted the delivery service.”
• “I should have been better prepared.”

You get the idea.

Once you acknowledge your role, you’ll start making progress. As long as you keep blaming something outside of yourself, you’ll be stuck.

Go ahead, take the blame. Things will start to change once you do.