Accepting Personal Responsibility – Essay

Chapter 2 Accepting Personal Responsibility There is great value in perceiving ourselves as the primary creators of the outcomes and experiences of our lives. At the very least, we are responsible for how we respond to any event, whether the event is of our creation or not. When academic outcomes and experiences are negative, many students blame others, often teachers. When academic outcomes and experiences are positive, many students credit others. Since the cause of their results is seen as existing outside of themselves, these students have no reason to evaluate and possibly change their own behaviors.
Students like this typically wait for the world to change while they complain, blame, make excuses, and repeat ineffective behaviors. They may even blame themselves, all the while thinking there is nothing they can do to change their fate. By offering students the opportunity to see how their own choices contribute to their past, present, and future outcomes, we empower them to approach life with the beliefs and behaviors of a Creator, thus giving up the passivity and bitterness of a Victim.
Empowers Students to . . . 1. Accept a Creator role, taking responsibility for creating the outcome and experiences of their lives (including their education), and reject the Victim role, giving up complaining, blaming, excusing, and paralyzing self-judgment. 2. Master Creator language, understanding that Creators and Victims choose different ways of thinking and speaking about their experiences, consequently changing both their perceptions of reality and the outcomes that they create. . Live more consciously, becoming more aware of their inner aspects—Inner Critic, Inner Defender, and Inner Guide, among others—and the corresponding inner dialogue that dictates students’ subsequent actions. 4. Make wise choices by consciously recognizing important decision points in their lives, identifying all possible options at this point, and making decisions with awareness of their future consequences. 5.

Make mature decisions, choosing to make long-term gain more important than immediate pleasure or immediate escape from discomfort. 6. Replace outer authority with inner authority, and resistance with cooperation. 7. Gain greater control over the outcomes of their lives. Engaging students in the exploration of JOURNAL ENTRIES, CASE STUDIES, ONE STUDENT’S STORY, EMBRACING CHANGE, ON COURSE AT WORK, QUOTATIONS, CARTOONS, FOCUS QUESTIONS, CHAPTER-OPENING CHARTS and STUDY SKILLS.