What Is Responsibility?
- All successful people take full responsibility for their actions.
- Unsuccessful people refuse responsibility and blame things on other people.
- The more responsibility you accept the more control you will have.
- Accepting responsibility is the starting point of all success.
Responsibility
Responsibility means accepting that you and you alone are accountable for your life. Being responsible therefore comes with the realization that you are where you are, and what you are, because of your own conduct and behavior.
Why Is Accepting Responsibility Important?
Recognizing the fact that you are 100% responsible for your life is the starting point of all great achievement.
Once you fully accept responsibility you will realize that no one else can live your life for you, and so if you want something done you must do it yourself.
Accepting responsibility therefore leads to a proactive outlook on life, whereby you actively seek and go after the things you want to do and accomplish in life.
Whilst other people may assist you in achieving your goals, you realize that ultimately it is up to you to achieve them.
The Affect Of Not Being Responsible
All successful people look upon themselves as the cause of what happens to their life. They understand that they are in control, and where they are today is a direct reflection of their actions in the past.
In contrast, unsuccessful people blame external factors for the way their life is. For example, if something goes wrong they may blame another person, or if something goes well they attribute it to good luck.
No Responsibility = No Control
By adopting the mindset that external factors are the cause of what happens to a person’s life, unsuccessful people refuse responsibility, and by doing so, automatically give control of their life to those external factors.
This leaves them with a feeling of powerlessness and negativity, because essentially they feel that something else is responsible for running their life and they are not in control of it.
Responsibility = Control
When you accept responsibility you gain control. This means that there is a direct relationship between the amount of control you have, and the amount of responsibility you accept.
This can be seen in any type of job, as the most responsible people tend to have the highest incomes, social status and the most power.
However when things go wrong these people may resign or be fired, as they must also accept full responsibility for any failure that has occurred.
This is an extremely important point to remember, because responsibility means accepting both the good and bad outcomes of a situation.
Final Thoughts On Responsibility
We feel good about ourselves to the degree in which we feel in complete control of our lives. When we blame other people or things for the way our life is, we loose that control, and with that loss comes a feeling of helplessness and negativity.
If you are able to fully accept responsibility for your life and stop blaming external factors for the way things turn out, you will automatically shed that feeling of helplessness and negativity.
In turn, this will be replaced with a feeling of control, confidence and high self esteem. Everything you need to be successful in life.
In closing, just remember that where you are today is a result of your actions in the past. Therefore, your future will be a result of what you do today.
Make sure you understand this, and start accepting full responsibility for your life today, so that you can create the future you want for tomorrow.
Read more about the Importance Of Responsibility
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November 5th, 2007 at 6:15 am
This is a very good and informative post. I very much like your message that it is we and we alone who must take responsibility for our life and its direction. This seems to be the essence of modern life coaching.
Your writing here seems to be following the concept of ‘locus of control’ , people either felt they had an internal locus or an external one. People with an internal locus of control took responsibility for their life and the decisions they make, whereas those with an external locus of control felt that other factors or other people were to blame.
Thanks
Doug
December 4th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
WHAT IS THAT???????
December 5th, 2007 at 3:02 am
Fion, please make a more specific comment/question so that i can give you an appropriate reply.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
oops nevermind i got it…
January 16th, 2008 at 8:09 am
TnX lol!
weeEeee!!!
weeee!!!
tnX now i have my homework done!!!
weee its all about responsibility bla bla,,,
tnx tnx tnx!!!
sorry im not that responsible!
so im typing shortcuts lol,,,
tnx again!!!
February 5th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Thankiez! now i have MOST of my work done, its all on the “Right To Responsibilty” Yay :] this helps alot.. besides the Movie part that have to make Dx why is everything so complacated in Grade 8 *cries* Bahh i hate school
<_<
Add mah msn if chu want people that need help on this
sara_bear10@hotmail.com
May 7th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
this helped me with an assignment on respnsibilty thanks a lot
May 12th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
this is a great wabsite!!!!!!!
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Couldn’t agree more. You alone control your actions in life, therefore you are responsible for what you do.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
This is very helpfull!!!
I just i realized that i cant stick to one thing only
i want to have responsability but once i have it
i can’t handle it….
And that makes me feel very low….
June 16th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Hi Dayana,
Being unable to stick to one thing is actually quite common, as some people have a naturally active mind and so want to do lots of things at once.
One of these people you may know. Leonardo Davinci. He was famous for constantly starting new projects, and dreaming up lots of new inventions.
Whilst this is certaintly a good trait to have it does have one major problem. If you are unable to stick to one task, because you feel you should be doing something else, you will find that in the end very little gets done because you are always stopping and starting new projects.
Another reason people may be unable to stick to a task is because they need to raise their level of self discipline. If you feel this applies to you, then you may be interested in reading the articles on improving your level of self discipline.
http://www.eruptingmind.com/success-skills/
You said you can’t handle responsibility once you have it, what do you mean by that? Do you feel that you are not capable of dealing with a task once you are given responsibility for it? How does having responsibility make you feel?
June 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I think Responsibility is some thing you need to acquire in young age, otherwise you won’t be able to get it.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Wow…a maths question when posting a comment. Novel. ^_^ Hiya Martin.
Thought I’d stop by and check out your site. Good stuff on responsibility. Am thinking of both the recent Money Programme on Bill Gates, where he had to take responsibility for both success, failures, and, er, anti-trust lawsuits. Plus of course my own actions with regards to my previous job, and where that got me. 
At the same time, have you thought about taking up life coaching, or giving talks?
June 26th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Hi AJ, the maths question is designed to prevent spam from automated submission bots. And it works very well. Guess those bots are not very good at maths!
Yes i saw that documentary on Bill Gates using the BBC iPlayer. I didn’t realise he was stepping down from Microsoft, will be interesting to see how things progress after he leaves.
I did do some life coach training awhile ago, but i am planning to go into the Navy soon, so its not something i would consider doing right now. Maybe in the future?
July 14th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
One shows maturity when he/she accepts responsibility of him /her life
July 19th, 2008 at 4:01 am
We believe in right and wrong, and yet when we do the wrong thing, we expect someone with greater responsibility to clean it up. it is very nice post. Thanks for sharing
August 14th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
VCery well said, it is so true that people need to be responsible for their actions and many people simply are not, great blog, you have very wise insights.
August 24th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I am very famous , but I am not responsible with my studies . I only watch TV and chat in messenger I dont like to be responsible I dont know why! Zac Efron allway tell me that I need to be responsible sexy baby ! and I allways kiss him in the mouth and tell him I dont like that !
Zac efron is my boyfriend ! sorry Vanessa !