Kerji Hunt
GEN/200
Success Is Hard Work
Everybody who walks this earth are born fearful, senseless and not knowing what the future holds. As you grow and progress through grade school years, you are learning how to be successful. You are blind to the fact that being successful is hard work. As you take your journey to college success, this is where you start to stumble and realize it is tough trying to reach your goals. With that being said personal responsibility plays a major role in reaching college success. Also, if there is no responsibility there is no progress. If you do not have personal responsibility, then in the future you will fail as an individual overall.
First, according to the Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, responsibility means having moral, legal, or mental accountability for your actions. Also, it means being trustworthy and reliable. If you add that to the end of the word personal, then this is where it involves us as individuals rather than a whole. The word personal responsibility must be stapled into your mind, if you plan on being successful in college. You must stay focused at all times and never let anyone derail your progress. For example, say that your friend has been talking about this big party all week long and really wants you to go to it. However, you know that an assignment is due on the same day of the party. Also, your daughter has swimming lessons the morning that your assignment is due. You can’t just say forget your assignment and go to a party. You must remain focus and follow through with your assignment. Jake Lawson (2011) stated, “accepting personal responsibility includes: accepting that you cannot blame others for the choices you have made, accepting that you choose the direction for your life, and acknowledging that you are solely responsible for the choices in your life”(Accepting Personal Responsibility).
For every action there is a consequence whether it is good or bad. If you do not have personal responsibility then you will not progress. Going back to the example earlier, I hope that you would also choose to follow through with your assignment. Even though you are following through with your assignment, you now have to rush to finish your assignment because it is the day before you have to turn your assignment in and you do not want to wake up before your daughters’ swimming class to finish it. This is where you must learn from your mistakes and manage your time better in the future. Dave Ellis (2011) stated, “You do not have enough time for the things you want to do. All it takes is thinking about the possibilities and making conscious choices” Dave Ellis (2011) also stated, “Time is a nonrenewable resource. If you’re out of wood, you can chop some more. If you’re out of money, you can earn a little extra. If you’re out of love, there is still hope. If you’re out of health, it can often be restored. But when you’re out of time, that’s it. When this minute is gone, it’s gone”(Becoming a Master Student, Chapter 2: Time). Without time management, this could result in a negative consequence and start to take a toll on you. Jake Lawson (2011) also stated, “when you have not accepted personal responsibility, you can run the risk of becoming: fearful about ever taking a risk or making a decision, chronically hostile, angry or depressed over how unfairly you have been, and emotionally or physically unhealthy”(Accepting Personal Responsibility).
If you do not take a positive outcome on personal responsibility now then in the future you will fail at almost everything you do. Kolder (2012) stated, “Without personal responsibility and the self discipline that comes along with it, success in college would be extremely difficult to achieve” (Success). Also, without self discipline, you will always be named as a procrastinator and a person who is unreliable. With that being said, you must learn how to take action and finish a task that you started. Don’t be the person that likes to wait until the last minute to get all of your ideas together and try to finish a task. You must learn how to develop the self discipline to start on your task early enough, even if it is just brain storming about a task. In the book Becoming a Master Student: Chapter 2, it talks about the ABC to do list and how to follow five steps that will help you with your daily task. The paragraph tells you to first brainstorm tasks by writing things down on a 3x5 card then goes on to the second step about how to estimate your time for each task you wrote down which is the most critical. The third step tells you to rate each task by priority. The fourth step talks about crossing off tasks that you have already have completed and to add new ones when necessary. The last step is evaluating your ABC to do list and making sure to complete the top priorities first. Once again going back to my example, if you would have wrote down the priorities from important to least important or A, B, and C. You wouldn’t have to feel all confused and rushed for your assignments. You would also be able to have your priorities down and finished to where you could also be able to make that big party your friend was talking about all week. Planning ahead to achieve your goals can be such a stress reliever.
In conclusion, personal responsibility can have many meanings to each of us. You know it coincides with college your success whether it is a positive or negative outcome of it. Also, without time management, you are liable to see no progression in your college success. Lastly, be prepared to eventually fail if you plan on being a procrastinator and taking a negative approach to your college success. Because in the long run you will get buried in your negative actions and will have to suffer once you are finally in your career field. Who wants to always be labeled a procrastinator? Remember success is hard work and is not something you can easily put on a spoon and let someone feed to you.
References
Merriam-Webster. 2013. Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/responsibility
Jake Lawson.2011. Accepting Personal Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/1468-accepting-personal-responsibility/
Kolder. 2012. College Success. Retrieved from http://www.studymode.com/essays/college-success-1051265.html
Dave Ellis. 2011. Becoming a Master Student, Thirteenth Edition: Chapter 2; Time. Available on the University of Phoenix student/faculty website: http://ecampus.phoenix.edu
References: Merriam-Webster. 2013. Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/responsibility Jake Lawson.2011. Accepting Personal Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/1468-accepting-personal-responsibility/ Kolder. 2012. College Success. Retrieved from http://www.studymode.com/essays/college-success-1051265.html Dave Ellis. 2011. Becoming a Master Student, Thirteenth Edition: Chapter 2; Time. Available on the University of Phoenix student/faculty website: http://ecampus.phoenix.edu
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