How to be Responsible
It’s not rocket science, being responsible simply requires you to follow a certain set of guidelines, in every action you do. Get all of these in order, and you’ll be a very responsible person:

If you’ve agreed to do something, just do it.
When you let down your friends, family, or colleagues, they’ll soon stop believing in you. You’re only taken seriously when you actually follow through on your commitments. If you’ve never really made a commitment before, give it a try. It doesn’t matter if its writing for your school’s newsletter or joining a sports team, committing to it helps you learn to care for things other than yourself, and as a pleasant side effect it will train you in sticking to a routine, which will make you more effective in every other aspect of your life.

Be consistent.
Responsibility means nothing if you constantly over and under-do it. This means building schedules and routines that work for you. Responsibility doesn’t mean cramming for an exam for 8 hours, and then not touching your textbook for another month. A responsible person will spend an hour or so, looking over their notes every day. The same goes with your friends, don’t call them every day when you need advice, and then drop off the radar for a month. Bring consistency into every aspect of your life and you’ll be much happier.

Never place the blame.
Take full accountability for the actions you have made, and never claim that it is anyone else’s fault except your own. By doing this, you are actually giving the world a message, that you’re in control of every part of your life. It wasn’t the traffics fault you were late to work, you simply didn’t leave your house early enough. In line with this, life isn’t always fair. Some people have a rougher time than others, but they will never be able to get off their course until they own up to the actions they are taking themselves, and try to make a change.

Don’t be a complainer.
Talking negatively about every interaction in your life won’t get you far, especially once you get a reputation for the one who is always complaining about the boss, the weather, or even the ridiculous price of gas. This is another way that people blame the world. Sure, you can’t change the price of gas, but everyone has the same problem. If it really bugs you buy a bicycle and ride to work. If you stop yourself every time you’re about to make a negative comment and say something positive, people will change the way they look at you. This course is an excellent help if you’re struggling with this, enabling you to reclaim your positive attitude.

Don’t give an excuse.
Similar to the above, in any situation there is always factors outside of our control. An irresponsible person claims these are the reason the task failed, but what you’re really doing is saying you haven’t been responsible. The most common form excuses take is “I would have, but…” Pay attention to how you speak, and start taking responsibility. The next time you start to make an excuse, simply admit why you didn’t get the task done. Perhaps you wanted to do something more fun, or were simply too tired. A responsible person admits the real reasons why they haven’t done something.

Be upfront and admit when you’ve made a mistake.
By accepting responsibility when you screw up, it makes the most of a bad situation – because you’ve learned from it, and you prevent yourself from making the same mistake again in the future. You’ll never learn anything if you never admit when you’re wrong. So step up, and be responsible when you say “I’m sorry, I’ve messed up. It’s not going to happen again.”

Recognize there will be things you cannot control.
As important as taking responsibility for your own actions is the ability to know when something comes up which you cannot possibly be responsible for. If you’re company goes under, it’s not your fault (unless of course you single-handedly engineered it to happen), and you’re also not responsible for your irresponsible friends who are always behind on their rent. Put your focus into being responsible for things you can control, and avoid the stress of those you cannot.

Take care of yourself.
You shouldn’t rely on others to remind you of the simple things you could either discover yourself, or you should simply know. Take responsibility and be in control of your life.

Learn to multi-task.
This is another trait of a responsible person, as you need to effectively juggle everything that is on your plate. This may mean caring for your newborn, having career success in your company, loving your partner and remembering the 7 different bills that all need to be paid, all on the same day. Whilst impossible to do all of this at once, a responsible person makes a priority list, and starts ticking off each as they get them done. If you’re feeling like you’re being pulled in a hundred directions at once, try this course and learn to maximize your efficiency.

Be someone people can count on.
If you borrow something from a friend, take good care of it. If a colleague tells you a secret, keep it to yourself. This demonstrates that you’re trustworthy, and can be counted on when something bigger comes up. You also need to know how to behave when a tragedy strikes. In the face of devastating news, you also need to be responsible and be there for your family and friends, as a support system for the people who really need you. Being responsible also requires learning how to hold yourself together when things get tough.

Think with your head.
Try to use good judgment in the decisions that you make. When you think things through you’ll make better choices, and gain the trust of your family (and your parents). If you struggle with this, try this course on critical reasoning and never again have difficulty in making a decision.

Don’t procrastinate.
If there’s a job needing to be done, get it done. Missing deadlines is not a trait of a responsible person, and by doing things on time it shows you can successfully manage your own life, and your own commitments. It can be difficult to exercise this level of self discipline, especially when your friends are heading out and you have to blow them off to get work done. This recent post covers how you can learn to be very effective in your time management skills. Reward yourself only when you’ve ticked off your tasks from your daily “to-do” list, because if you want to be truly responsible you need to tackle the challenges life throws at you, and not just enjoy the fun stuff.

Demonstrate you can handle the small stuff.
It takes time to earn trust, so do your best at work, school, in your sports team, or in your job to prove your ability to be responsible. Only then will you be given a chance for more.

Responsibility isn’t something that each of us is entitled to, you need to first act responsible and earn the right. If a teacher, or a manager is hesitant at giving you more responsibility think about why this may be the case. Have you been flippant with the responsibility already assigned to you? It doesn’t matter how stupid/boring/dumb you believe your current responsibilities to be, saying you’ll take a new (and more challenging task) more seriously while neglecting what you currently are responsible for is a key characteristic of an irresponsible person.

Take all of this advice on board and learn to be more responsible for your own life today. It will help you get places!