#WinningWednesday

Our #WinningWednesday topic is taking responsibility for your own actions. We win at life when we own ourselves - the good and the bad. Except it's not so hard to own our good is it? I mean, we like to own our good - and some of us really like to own it by making sure everyone hears about our good from us all.the.time. (That's obnoxious and crosses the line of owning our good.) But owning our bad. Oh, we don't like that. At all. But I promise we win at life when we own the stuff that makes us look bad.

Oh, it's not easy but it's better. There can be consequences when we don't take responsibility for our actions but there can also be rewards when we do. And honestly? The rewards of owning ourselves is worth it, even when it's hard.

But why is it so hard to own up to our mistakes? Because our brains generate cognitive blind spots that can make it difficult for us to honestly assess our actions and determine our responsibility for those actions and their consequences. Our brains are inclined to flatter and shield our egos from blame when we make mistakes. It's called cognitive dissonance and it is a form of mental discomfort and tension. It's fascinating and you can read all about it here and here.

So today take some time out and decide to win by owning yourself - every single bit.

Call it a Day

The literal use of this phrase hails from 1838 when the phrase originally was "call it half a day" to mean leaving work early. (source) The modern use of the phrase is to indicate ending something due to false sense of accomplishment.

More bang for your buck

This phrase was used a lot in 1953 but an earlier citation puts it at 1940 in a Metals and Plastics Publications advertisement. Read about it here . The phrase means you get more for your money.

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

Search This Blog