Responsibility

 That’s a word a lot of us dread. We don’t like it at all. If not consciously then at least sub-consciously. We shirk away from it. Or at least I do. Personally, I'm just scared with all that it entails.

Hopefully this post will make me take a step towards it.

The first step is to want to be responsible. The second step is to DO something about it.

I think that holds true with EVERY personal development goal.

‘Want and Do’

‘Desire and Action’

****************************************************

So let’s start at the origin of the word. It’s a relatively new word originating in the late 1700s when the constitution was being discussed. It has more of a political origin to it. Only in the 20^th century did responsibility become personal.

            There are lots of types of responsibilities like retrospective, prospective, etc.  

Retrospective is when you’ve done something wrong and you accept blame for it and hold yourself accountable.
           And prospective responsibility is something you are duty-bound to do. For example, taking good care of your children is your duty. You ought to do it despite everything else that may be happening in your lives.

          Now, just because a person is supposed to do something, doesn’t mean they always do it. They know it’s wrong and yet they keep on persisting. There can be lots of reasons for this. Bad habits, low self-esteem, inertia, dislike of work or action,  repetitive failures, lack of motivation, procrastination, fear, hate for change and of course the most obvious one - laziness.

So who is ‘the responsible person’?

(According to an encyclopedia on this site: http://www.iep.utm.edu/responsi/)

·       The responsible person can be relied on to judge and to act in certain desirable ways. The person can be trusted to exercise initiative and to demonstrate commitment; and when things go wrong, such a person will be prepared to take responsibility for dealing with things.

·       One way of putting this might be to say that the responsible person can be counted on take her responsibilities seriously.

·       We will not need to hold her responsible, because we can depend on her holding herself responsible. 

             The words: relied on, act, trust and commitment literally stare at me. Those are all words I associate with responsibility. Akin to trust, responsibility also has to be earned. The more responsible you are the more people trust you with things. They know they can depend on you.

When someone says, “You have my word.”

             It really does not mean anything. It all depends on who’s doing the talking; his track record, his past and his willingness to change or to prove himself.

             I am sorry to say that the past does count when you want to prove yourself responsible. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. It only means that you have to follow through and be consistent before you can ask for the responsibility.

            My friends have been helping me with this. One of the most important things I’ve been told and that has stuck with me is…

Every day is a new day.

           There are choices to make every day. Make the right ones. Every choice has a consequence and you have to live with that.

“It demands a calm attention to the facts of the situation and the consequences of actions – and not to lofty or abstract principles.”

 – Max Weber

(more on choices and its consequence later…lol)

          Also, don’t be afraid of hard work because its rewards pay in ways that are more important than those that will be recognized by others; like self-esteem, reliability and trust.

          Lastly, I’d like to add, to those people who already consider themselves responsible individuals, that personal responsibility doesn’t just happen. We must expect it, foster it and nurture it.

And teach it to our children, so that they can become responsible individuals in future.

This is one of my favorite quotes,

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
-Abraham Lincoln