I guess I don’t watch enough reality TV.

Until this morning, I’d never heard of Teresa Giudice, one of the “stars” of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Well, she just showed up on my news browser.

Teresa, whose breast augmentation surgery was featured on the show, is in deep caca with creditors. She and her husband Joe owe ’em $11 million, so they filed for bankruptcy.

And whose fault is that?

Teresa blames her financial woes on her employers, the Bravo channel!

You know, the folks who handed her fame and fortune.

“If she wasn’t on the show, this all would be much easier,” says one of Teresa’s friends. “Everything would be settled by now, but because she is now famous, everyone is using the situation to get press for themselves and humiliate her and her family.

“It’s honestly got to the point where she’s not sure if she wants to come back for another season. Teresa is sick of everyone knowing all her private financial business. It’s just not fair.”

OK, I’m not even gonna address the fact that Teresa is a self-indulgent ingrate.

Or the fact that she and her husband are crappy money managers.

I wanna talk a sec about the importance of accepting responsibility for your own life.

If the bank’s banging on your door, or the repo man’s stalking your BMW, or your business isn’t growing as fast as you’d like…well, that’s your baggage, baby. 

I know that’s hard to take. But when you play the blame game like Teresa Giudice, you surrender control of your life to others.

And trust me, those others don’t give a hot patootie about you.

Habitually blaming outside forces for all your troubles will never enhance your success. Instead, it’ll just make you irresponsible, a quitter, reliant on others, unhappy, angry, and depressed.

Albert Einstein said, “Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will — his personal responsibility.”

And success coach Brian Tracy once made this observation:  “Peak performance begins with your taking complete responsibility for your life and everything that happens to you.”

So if things’ve gotcha down, take a deep breath, acknowledge the role you’ve played in the situation, and move forward.

I know it ain’t easy. But it works better’n wallowing in self-pity like Teresa Giudice.

Whatcha think?

P.S. In the above photo, Teresa is second from the left.