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when we declare the source of the trouble to be outside
of us. However, once we say, “I am the problem,” there
is great power that shifts from the outside to the in-
side. Now we can become the solution.
You can use this process the same way a detective
uses a premise to clarify the crime scene. If the detec-
tive says, “What if there were two murderers, not one?”
she can then think in a way that reveals new possibili-
ties. She doesn’t have to prove that there were two mur-
derers in order to think the problem through as if there
were. The same is true when you become willing always
to see yourself as the problem. It is simply a way to
think.
Unfortunately, our society today is in the habit of
thinking the opposite of “I am the problem.” Time maga-
zine even ran a cover story called “A Nation of Finger
Pointers,” that made a powerful and persuasive case
for the fact that we have become a nation of victims who
“see the American dream not as striving fulfilled, but
as unachieved entitlement.”
In The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, Nathaniel
Branden writes, “To feel competent to live and worthy
of happiness, I need to experience a sense of control
over my existence. This requires that I be willing to
take responsibility for my actions and the attainment
of my goals. This means that I take responsibility for
my life and my well-being.”
Before I had realized the full power of a self-moti-
vated life, I spent a lot of years pointing fingers. If I
didn’t have enough money, it was somebody else’s fault.
Even my perceived personality flaws were somebody
else’s fault. “I was never taught that!” I would shout in
exasperation. “No one showed me early in life how to be
self-sufficient!” was a complaint I voiced often.