Dealing with responsibility

Why do we sometimes avoid responsibility?

• Fear of failure
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Not knowing where to start
• Lack of routine

Can you think of any examples where you can demonstrate responsibility in your personal life, or the lives of others around you?

Examples: turning up for work/school, completing homework/coursework, meeting deadlines, showing up on time for appointments, saving money, walking the dog.

Responsibility can encompass a whole range of behaviours and activities, from being independent or taking a leadership role to demonstrating your commitment through dedication and time management. If you take being responsible seriously, you’ll be amazed at how much you’re able to achieve!

How to embrace responsibility to achieve your goals

Achieving your goals will be much easier if you take responsibility for your time and actions, and break down the goal into smaller tasks. You are the only one who can achieve your goals, so it’s time to embrace responsibility!

1. Set yourself a reasonable deadline. Add to your calendar, notebook and keep in your mind

2. Create a structure and routine for each day. Practice and dedication go a long way to helping you reach your aspirations

3. Ask for help. You're not alone, there are probably many people around you in your support network who will happy to help - you just need to take the responsibility and ask!

4. Manage your expectations. Not everything happens overnight. Practice having the patience to follow through with something that is important to you and others, and you will find the benefit of doing so much more rewarding

5. Be proud of yourself!

When you implement these suggestions, and achieve a goal, you will have shown yourself and others around you how committed you can be when it comes to achieving something that’s important to you. This will create a great example for employers, colleagues, and peers.

Making a mistake

It can be quite a stressful thing to admit when we've made a mistake. Can you think of a time in your life when you've made a mistake you were afraid to tell anyone about?

It’s often easier to blame things around us, for example, our computer, lack of time, or a lack of good instruction. However, making mistakes is something we all do. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, and making mistakes is often the best way to learn.

If you make a mistake, following these steps will help you know how to take responsibility for your actions and overcome the situation in the best way possible:

Step 1: Don’t be afraid to admit it

Step 2: Take time to understand what went wrong

Step 3: Communicate what happened and, if necessary, apologise

Step 4: Learn from it: how can you avoid this next time? Is there an easier solution?

Step 5: And finally, move on.

Next time you make a mistake, try implementing these suggestions. You will find that you have shown you can be accountable for your actions, demonstrating to those around you that you can be trusted in the future. You will have shown the courage to face up to the mistake head on, and ultimately, you will have grown from the experience. The next time a similar situation arises, you will be prepared. You may even be able to help others avoid making the same mistake as you!

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes” (Oscar Wilde)

So, what now?

The activities below have all been designed to help you get fully ready to take your next steps - whatever pathway you choose to take. Each set of activities ranges from a short activity which should take no more than 30 minutes, through to portfolio activities, which are longer, project-based tasks. The more time you spend on each activity, the more you'll get out of it, but you should be able to find something each week to fit into your schedule.

Why not start with the short activity first and then work your way through the remaining activities until you’ve completed them all?

Short activity

Choose three friends or family members and ask them about the main areas of responsibility in their life and how they deal with it.

Perhaps use the following points as a guide:

• If it makes them feel anxious or in-control

• How they keep track of their responsibility

• Top tips for becoming more responsible

• A time they have made a mistake and how they have overcome it.

If you are speaking with a guardian or family member, perhaps discuss how you can take on more responsibility around the house or with school.

You can then use these examples in interviews, to demonstrate various skills such as leadership, time management and adaptability.

Main activity

Create a line-up of the things in your life that you are responsible for, from most to least important. Try being creative and make this line-up as visual as possible.

This could be: ‘I have to take responsibility for getting my homework and revision done’, and this could be important because ‘it helps push me to achieve my goal of getting an A in English Literature.’

• Once you have completed your line-up, identify how that level of responsibility makes you feel. Do you feel happy and in-control or stressed and under pressure?

• For those things that are causing you stress, think about ways you can reduce your level of responsibility or deal with it in a different way. A good idea would be to find people within your support network who can help alleviate some of the pressure you’re under and suggest healthy coping mechanisms to deal with those situations.

This will help you find out what your limits are and when you need to ask for help from others.

Portfolio

Think about a time that you’ve made a mistake and how you dealt with the situation.

Use the following five-steps to think about how you would deal with the situation differently if it were to happen again.

• When did you admit your mistake?

• When did you identify your mistake, and could this have been done sooner?

• Did you communicate what happened clearly and apologise if necessary?

• What lesson(s) did you learn from this mistake? How could you avoid it again? Was there an easier solution than the one you chose?

• What steps have you taken to move on from your mistake?

It is possible that you may make a mistake at work. What is important to an employer is that you’re able to admit your error, learn from it and put in place a system/procedure to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

PSHE lesson

In groups, ask students to organise a fictional event. A sports day or school disco, for example.

• Each person in the group should be responsible for planning a specific part of the event. You may need to give guidance on roles (e.g., finance, marketing, security, sales).

• Set them a specific amount of time to work on their event and present it back to you (the planning committee). You will then approve or decline funding for the event.

At the end of the task, ask students to reflect on how they dealt with the responsibility of their specific role in the group.

• Did they find it stressful or easy? Why?

• Did they ask for support from their team members, in order to share the workload and decrease the pressure from the time-limited task?

This is often how teams will work in businesses, offering support to other teams or colleagues during times of pressure in order to meet a set goal.