We are not just building our lives. We have a much bigger role. We are the architects of our own success. Architects not only design they also ensure that it can be built and used as designed. Now this can be both scary and exhilarating at the same time. Sometimes it is even difficult to tell them apart seeing as they both happen in the pit of my stomach.

You see along with choice comes a little something something called responsibility. Now many of us can have a tendency to shy away from responsibility because in fact the human spirit begs to be free and unencumbered but I would like to put a slightly different spin on it for you that may ease your suffering…smile.

I choose a more positive interpretation of the word “responsibility” to be, my “ability to respond”. This way I lead with ability and thereby concentrate on my choice to succeed rather than any obligation to perform. Knowing I am able to respond does not obligate me, it allows me the opportunity to choose to respond or not respond.

So what does it mean to be “responsible” as the architect of our own lives?  It means that I am able to respond to all of the opportunities my life uncovers. I believe that there as many opportunities in life as there are places we look for it. Opportunity does not hide from us, it waits to be discovered. Once discovered it waits for us to respond.

Knowing I am able to respond also alerts me to the tools required to make the most of these opportunities. These tools were provided to me. And what are the tools I have been so well equipped with you wonder? Simple. My intelligence, my sense of adventure and my imagination. This powerful triumvirate is all I need to live the life I love.

So the next time you are thinking to yourself “I am missing out on opportunities in my life” remember that they are not hiding from you, they are waiting for you. And if you take out and dust off your own sense of adventure, use a little imagination and apply some intelligence you will be able to respond to all the opportunities set before you. Nothing is out of your reach if you reach out for it.