A few years ago a witnessed someone carrying out a task that is usually done by someone else. I had seen this before and I knew the first thing that they were going to do was to complain about it and complain about it they did. As they started doing the work they realised that the task was very complicated and for the next two hours all I heard was them complaining about the work they were doing. This person then said something that I hear a lot of people say every day and that is “if this goes wrong it is not my fault” This person was just starting a new task that they have never done before and the first thing they thought was not taking responsibility. However after they did the job really well told everyone that came to their desk. They went on to tell me that if it went wrong they would not have taken responsibility for it.

It is a lot easier to take responsibility when we do a very good job and not so when we get things wrong, however it is important to note the ability to take responsibility when things go well and when they don’t is what separates successful people from unsuccessful people. What happens when someone does something wrong and they don’t take responsibility for their action? They will repeat that action and they become the people who do things the same way but still expect a different outcome. People who take responsibility look at their lives and they tell themselves that things are not working out because of the actions they are taking or not taking. This forces them to stop taking the actions that they are currently taking and start taking actions that will give them the results that they want.