The Anti-Responsibility List

I love watching, listening to, and reading motivational talks. I think they do so much to help us keep our head focused on good things and to help us continually move forward in our lives.

Last Sunday morning I was watching KBYU TV and a talk came on by a man named Lynn Robbins called “Be 100 Percent Responsible”.  In the talk he discussed the importance of being responsible and accountable for ourselves. He shared a list of the common tactics people tend to use to avoid being responsible. As he talked they displayed a powerpoint slide that contained this list and I knew I wanted to hurry and snap a picture of it with my phone so I could hang up the list somewhere I could see it often and make sure that I don’t ever allow myself to fall into the trap of using one of these tactics to avoid being responsible in my life because I know that the best path to feeling happy is to always be willing to take responsibility for our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions.

Here is the list he shared:

What an awesome list to be mindful of! And what a great reminder for all of us to assess our own lives and ensure we don’t fall into the anti-responsibility trap, because that is a trap that will hold us back and keep us from ever truly being happy. Not only that but I would guess we have all had to feel the painful effects of having someone we care about not take responsibility for their actions, and hopefully we don’t ever want to cause that level of hurt on anyone we love by making that same mistake of not being responsible. In order for us to be our very best selves we have to make sure we avoid the anti-responsibility list at all times and in all circumstances.

Have a great day everyone!

~Amy Rees Anderson

4 Comments

  • Jane says:

    Thank you for sharing these ways that we avoid taking responsibility. I agree that nothing good ever comes from any of those practices.

  • Dorinda Purser says:

    Thanks so much for this list and for the encouragement you post in your blog. I love this one about taking responsibility. Sometimes, no matter how much we try to take responsibility for our own lives, we end up having to rely on someone else to help us, but making excuses for the limitations we live with is a waste of time. Everyone has God given work to do, and when we do that work God provides our needs.
    I love the avatar you use in your postings. How can I make my own?

    • Norm Wright says:

      I very much like your thought, Dorinda, on how even though we work hard to take responsibility, we often end up relying on others. I am trying to think through how we bring together the need for being 100% responsible and accepting that we will need help in many cases. My initial thought is that we also need to take 100% responsibility for having the humility necessary to reach out to others and say, “I can’t do this on my own. Would you be willing to help me?” Brene Brown researches and writes insightfully about vulnerability. It occurs to me that having the humility needed to allow ourselves to be vulnerable in front of others is a great accompanying virtue to responsibility.

  • Heather Vogeley says:

    Lynn Robbins was one of the co-founders of Franklin, which became Franklin Covey. He is also my mother’s first cousin (my only claim to any fame whatsoever).

    Lynn is an incredible person. I used to stare at him at family reunions when I was little. There was just “something” about him…

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