No two commitments are the same—just as no two people are the same. Some people struggle through their professional duties during the day, but in the evening they voluntarily take on an honorary position with extensive responsibility in their club. How can this be? And how can we transform and understand these obvious contradictions?
Has anyone ever assigned you a task? How did that make you feel? How much energy did you have? Did you feel any pressure or a burden on your shoulders?
Conversely, have there been situations in which you voluntarily took on a task? Simply because you wanted to, not because you had to. How did you feel in that situation? Motivated? Full of energy?
Here we find two principles: desire and duty. Desire gives us energy—it helps us to fulfill a task responsibly. Duty, on the other hand, triggers an instinct to flee—which makes us intuitively want to avoid the task.
What is Obligation what is responsibility?
responsibility inspire us and give us strength. It is at the heart of human development. When it comes to obligations, our motto is more like: Just get it done! They are comparable to a "to-do list" where we force ourselves to tick off each item individually. We responsibility reject responsibility , but we cannot reject obligations.
This point responsibility fundamental attitude, an attitude that ultimately leads to a transformation from "I have to" to "I want to." However, responsibility a permanently positive attitude into responsibility takes time and, above all, practice.
First repress, then take responsibility
The transformation toward a healthy sense of responsibility proceeds in six stages, each characterized by different attitudes:
- Level 1: Repression
"This can't be true." - Stage 2: Looking for someone to blame
"Who did this to me?" - Stage 3: Justification
"It's because this and that happened before." - Stage 4: Self-reproach
"It's my own fault. If only I had..." - Stage 5: Commitment
"I have to live with it. I can't change it anyway." - Level 6: responsibility
"If I have to, then I also want to..."
The first four stages are not characterized by action: we think, talk, blame others, or feel sorry for ourselves. But it is only at stage five that we begin to act. We still feel the pressure of Obligation, but we also free ourselves from powerlessness on our own.
Only at the final, sixth stage do we want to actively control the situation and responsibility —we want to take mental ownership of it and act from the inside out.
The path to developing a sense of responsibility
Such a transformation takes place over and over again. The leap from Repression responsibility a big one—and many people end their journey at stage five. To them we say: Bravo! Here, too, you have already undergone a profound change.
But to take that final step, we have to practice—practice over and over again. We have to realize that there are different mindsets: those who always avoid responsibility and look for someone else to blame, and those who take action and responsibility .
To successfully navigate the path to a healthy sense of responsibility, we must be aware of the six stages. We must reflect on and understand situations. And yes, we must practice. This is how we make the leap from having to do something to wanting to do it—and achieve a new level of energy.
Gehen Sie diesen Weg mit uns. Lassen Sie das Pflichtprinzip nicht zur Last werden und erleben Sie Lust an Verantwortung.
Erfahren Sie mehr über die sechs Stufen der Verantwortung: >Hier klicken.<
Your team at the Grundl Leadership Institute
Image source: Pixabay
