This post comes from Daylon Deon. Daylon is a Microsoft Xbox MVP and host/Velvet Voice behind the Unscripted 360 podcast. Follow him on Twitter @deaconblade
When I was asked to write about something my father instilled in me, I have to admit it was the easiest question I’ve ever been asked. Although I can’t express to anyone what my biological father instilled in me, I can express what my “real father”, who shared no blood with me, did. You see I didn’t grow up with the man who was listed on my birth certificate but I did grow up with the man who raised and took care of me.
It is because of him that I’m able to answer a question like this one. What did my Dad do right? The simple answer is everything. However, I’d like to speak about the fact that my Stepfather made himself accountable and responsible for a family he inherited. Even though there was no DNA obligation, he opted to sacrifice and be accountable for raising me and my brothers.
It was that accountability and responsibility that left a lasting impression on me. He could have easily run from a single woman with three kids but he didn’t. These two things he never spoke verbally but he showed in his actions a thousand times over. He taught me how to be accountable for anything I got myself into. He taught me how to be responsible for the choices I made.
The first lessons about what it meant to be a man came from the sweat and tears my Stepfather endured working at a Chevrolet dealership and racing cars here in Dallas.
“Whatever you do Daylon, make sure you own up to it and take ownership of it” he would say. Be it school, my time in the Marine Corps or the start my gaming industry adventure, I held myself accountable and responsible to see it through. He taught me responsibility in success as well as in failure.
Being accountable can’t be only about success but in the consequences of failure as well. I know I couldn’t have accomplished the few things that I have in life or in the gaming industry without my Stepfather and what he instilled in me.
