The Importance of Personal Responsibility

The Importance of Personal Responsibility GEN/200 As an adult you are responsible for every action that you take, but before that action are a series of thoughts that lead you to taking that action. Your personal responsibility starts at a young age, you are either taught personal responsibility as you grow into an adult by being held accountable of your own actions or the responsibility is taken from you. Depending on how you were brought up your transition into becoming an adult can either be an easy one or a difficult one where everyone is to blame but yourself.
As an adult the one thing that you know is a constant is that you will be held accountable for your actions whether you like it or not. Holding yourself accountable and having self discipline has a lot to do with personal responsibility in my opinion. When you hold yourself accountable for your actions, your thoughts, your intentions… you are making a conscious effort to be a responsible person. Every action starts with a thought, whether it’s a good thought or a bad thought will determine the outcome of that action.
For example when you wake up in the morning and the first thought that comes to mind is that you will have a bad day, whether you know it or not you are subconsciously going to make it a bad day. Personal responsibility starts with holding yourself accountable, if you stopped that thought when it happened and told yourself that today will be a good day you have already turned the outcome around. By holding yourself accountable you are in control, you are not aimlessly going through life reacting to what happens to you.

Self discipline goes hand in hand with holding yourself accountable, by having self discipline you are able to make sure that you are staying on track and checking up on yourself regularly. Having self discipline will go a long way in making sure you make it to your intended destination. Take flight paths for example, when you fly somewhere they generally show you the path that they will take. It is impossible to stay exactly on that line since you are in the air constantly battling the changes circumstances around you, air pockets, up drafts, down drafts, adverse weather, etc. The ilots are disciplined enough to make necessary adjustments to stay on track on make it to their destination on time. This holds true in life by having the self discipline to make adjustments where need be to hold yourself accountable to what is happening around you. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and having the characteristics of personal responsibility you will be able to adjust and continue on. Personal responsibility is incredibly important, by making sure that you are aware of what is happening and holding yourself responsible for the outcome of your actions you will go a long way.
Everybody knows someone who always has an excuse for why something didn’t happen the way that they wanted it to, they know just who or what to blame. They will actively look for something or someone to blame to avoid facing the fact that they may have done something wrong to have the outcome that received. That person generally hasn’t changed very much from the person they were in high school both personally and professionally. By holding yourself responsible you are more aware of what is happening, you can review your actions and determine what adjustments need to be made.
Some of the most successful people in life are the most critical of themselves, whether it’s a professional athlete studying game tapes before a game or a college student doing the necessary research before giving a presentation. Personal responsibility can help you achieve your goals in your college degree in stride. By using your personal responsibility you would make the time to read ahead on your class syllabus to make sure that you are missing any large assignments that are coming up.
As an adult learner putting together a plan to help practice personal responsibility is a key component to your success. With the economy in its present state many students require a full time job to be able to go to school, scheduling enough time to study and finish your assignments without impeding on your work schedule will help. Taking a look into your class and what is required when you start a new class will help you plan and schedule your time, having that plan in place will make it a lot easier to hold yourself accountable to complete each block.
Having a written plan, specific goals with set timelines, and a vision will help you succeed in making sure that you accomplish what you set out. Ultimately personal responsibility will make your tenure in college a lot easier, it will also become second nature as you enter the professional world. Whether you are entering your first career or going back to school to pursue a new career having personal responsibility will take you far in life. If you were to interview the most successful people in the world I can almost guarantee that being personally responsible will be a key component to their success.