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5 Ways Responsibility Will Improve Your Life
“If you want to improve your life, the first step is recognizing that you alone are responsible.”
We all want a better life for ourselves. For most of us, the true challenge comes in identifying how to achieve that? One of the most powerful ways you can improve your life is through responsibility. Responsibility can be demonstrated in many ways including being responsible, having responsibility, acting responsibly, and taking responsibility. Each of these has the power to impact not only your life, but the lives of those around you.
Below are 5 ways that responsibility will improve your life. Let’s discuss each and why they are relevant to success and happiness.
Improved Relationships
Greater Success
Sense Of Achievement
Personal Growth
Freedom and Independence
1. Being Responsible Leads To Improved Relationships
One of the greatest benefits of responsibility is that it will have a direct and positive effect on your relationships. All types of relationships, whether business or personal, will thrive with responsibility. Being responsible makes you a person that others feel comfortable being around. It makes you someone whom people can count on in good times and bad.
In business, responsibility plays a big part in developing trust which is essential to building strong relationships. Your boss gave you a deadline. Your customer expects that questions are answered, issues are resolved, and that you will work hard to earn their business.
Now let’s look at personal relationships. We all have that go-to friend, neighbor, or family member. You know the one I’m talking about... You can call them anytime you need sage advice, or just an extra hand around the house moving some furniture. They lift you up when you’ve struggled, and they are there to help you celebrate your achievements. Having these people in your life is a necessity, and being responsible means that you’re going to be there for them as well.
Ultimately, being responsible means that you are able and willing to do your part to benefit everyone involved no matter what. This isn’t always easy to achieve, but the benefits of strong relationships more than outweighs the effort you put into it.
“The Price of Greatness is Responsibility" - Winston Churchill
2. Acting With Responsibility Leads To Success
We all know that success doesn’t come easy. It requires hard work, dedication, and consistency. One thing is certain though... In order to be successful, you need the opportunity to be. So how does acting responsibly create opportunities? To put it short, because it promotes trust and confidence.
One thing to remember too is that we are always earning our next opportunity. Nothing is guaranteed to us. If you are consistent though, being responsible and acting responsibly will lead to success.
Acting responsibly demonstrates your ability to make good decisions.
Being accountable demonstrates your ability to accept responsibility when things go wrong.
Having responsibility demonstrates your ability to care for something other than yourself.
How do you think a successful person conducts themselves? Do they hold themselves accountable for their own happiness? Do they make good decisions of behalf of themselves and others? Do they follow through on what they say they will do? Do they do these things because they have to, or because they feel responsible to themselves and for their actions? When you visualize a successful person, you quickly begin to see how acting responsibly plays directly into success.
3. Having Responsibility Leads To A Sense Of Achievement
One of the most important things to have in life is a sense of achievement. Remembering things you’ve accomplished can be especially difficult during tough times, though. Too often, we forget all the victories we’ve experienced in life. A sense of achievement fuels the fire inside us all, and makes us want to accomplish more.
Being successful is a mindset, and each achievement inspires you to see what else you can do.
Responsible people don’t make excuses, they make progress. They understand that things aren’t always easy, but determination drives them to continue. They achieve. Responsibility will lead to achievement, and a sense of achievement inspires us to become our best selves.
“More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them" ― Harold J. Smith
4. Taking Responsibility Leads To Personal Growth
Taking responsibility can be difficult. It’s so much easier to write off failures as being outside of your control, or the fault of someone else. All too often, the problem is how you perceive the problem. Eventually, you realize that taking responsibility isn’t the end of the world. The best way to take responsibility is to simply acknowledge your mistakes, learn from them, and move forward.
A responsible person is accountable for the choices they make. This, inevitably, is the point in which most people will struggle. That struggle represents a barrier between the current version of yourself, and the person you desire to become. The key to breaking through that barrier is for your desire to grow be greater than your fear of failure.
Let’s be honest about one thing here: None of us are perfect. We all have moments in life we wish we would have handled differently. But you cannot dwell on those moments. Being able to acknowledge your mistakes and the learn from them is the key to growth.
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility" – Sigmund Freud
5. Responsibility Leads To Freedom and Independence
For most of us, our independence is something we covet and protect fiercely. Having the ability to choose for ourselves is empowering, but like everything else independence comes at a cost.
In order to set your own schedule, you need to be mindful of what you need to accomplish. In order to spend time doing what you want, you must also make time to do what you need.
By making good decisions and demonstrating that we are dependable, reliable, and accountable; we earn the ability to act independently.
Quite simply, responsibility leads to choice. If you desire the ability to make your own choices, you must respect the fact that you are accountable for your decisions. For those who are willing to pay the cost, there are many benefits to acting responsibly. Below are just a few examples.
Self Reliance
Boosts your confidence
Achieve more
Reduces Stress
Promotes happiness
Allows time to pursue other interests
Allows personal choice
Conclusion:
In its most basic sense, responsibility ties closely to trust, opportunity, accountability, and independence. There are many different ways to improve your life, but it all starts with acknowledging that you alone are responsible. Responsibility is a state of mind. It is an ongoing goal.
You have to decide for yourself that you are willing to do what is necessary to achieve your goals. Then you have to be committed to making mindful decisions that will allow you to continue to grow. Finally, you must make this a daily habit.
How else do you feel responsibility can impact your life?
