One way to live with less stress...

If you want to design your life and improve your future, you have to take 100% responsibility for where you are right now.

A few years ago, I had an epiphany - a moment in which I became keenly aware that if I decided to take 100% responsibility for my life, I could then make my life what I want it to be.

And it's been working.

Taking 100% responsibility is a daily commitment. Sometimes it can feel like a wrestling match with yourself.

It's a challenge.

But it's better to accept the challenge of taking 100% responsibility than to accept the stress that will invade your life the second you give even 1% of that responsibility away.

The second you do the latter, you are in the "blame zone." You are in the zone of thinking: "Well, my life is this way because this happened to me or so-and-so did this to me."

When you think that way, you're stuck. You have no control over your life because you won't even exercise the power you have to control yourself.

The first step to taking 100% responsibility for your life is being able to stop and say:

"I am here right now because of my choices. I am here not because of what has happened to me, but because of how I responded to what has happened to me. And I can change where I am by changing my response the events/circumstances/problems/people/opportunities going forward."

So no matter what "happens to you," stop and think: "How can I take 100% responsibility for this? How am I going to respond? How can this make me a better person going forward?"

What do you think? Are there areas in your life where you feel stuck and stressed out? You might need to look more closely and see if you've let go of your hundred percent.