How to Measure and Improve Your Personal Responsibility
Personal responsibility is accepting the consequences of your choices and actions and applies to everyone with the exception of those unfortunate few who are unaware of reality. For people working with or raising children, it is important to be a positive role model by practicing the positive thinking and behavioral characteristics involved in personal responsibility.
Instructions
Read each statement listed on the left side. Using the scale on the right side, select T if you believe the statement is TRUE and F if you believe the statement is FALSE. Most importantly, if you select T for TRUE, rate how often you think or behave this way. After you have completed the Inventory, refer to Evaluating Your Degree Of Personal Responsibility at the end of the Inventory.
Using the self-inventory, you will be able to:
• Identify the specific characteristics of personal responsibility
• Assess and monitor your unique characteristics regarding personal
responsibility
• Develop objectives for your personal responsibility plan
• Identify and deal with the personal irresponsibility of others behavioral
characteristics involved in personal responsibility.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU THINK OR BEHAVE THIS WAY? FALSE TRUE RARELY FREQUENTLY
1. I do not make disclosures about myself to others. F T 1 2 3 4 5
2. I do not care about feedback from others. F T 1 2 3 4 5
3. I am not critical of myself. F T 1 2 3 4 5
4. I cannot trust people. F T 1 2 3 4 5
5. I view myself as a victim of my social conditions. F T 1 2 3 4 5
6. I feel sorry for myself and look for excuses. F T 1 2 3 4 5
7. I blame others for my failures,
mistakes and lack of achievement. F T 1 2 3 4 5
8. I am good at appearing to be the victim. F T 1 2 3 4 5
9. I make excuses. F T 1 2 3 4 5
10. I focus only on my own positive attributes. F T 1 2 3 4 5
11. I fail to acknowledge
my own negative, destructive behavior. F T 1 2 3 4 5
12. I build myself up at the expense of others. F T 1 2 3 4 5
13. I never make mistakes or bad decisions. F T 1 2 3 4 5
14. I am a moral person no matter what I do. F T 1 2 3 4 5
15. I am unwilling to do anything
that I find boring or disagreeable. F T 1 2 3 4 5
16. I am unwilling to make an effort to achieve something
if I consider the tasks too hard. F T 1 2 3 4 5
17. I am impatient and cannot stand boredom. F T 1 2 3 4 5
18. I expect instant success with little effort. F T 1 2 3 4 5
19. I want to get the most out of the least effort. F T 1 2 3 4 5
20. I find responsible living
to be unexciting and unsatisfying. F T 1 2 3 4 5
21. I have no sense of obligation
to anyone or anything. F T 1 2 3 4 5
22. I will only respond
if there is an immediate payoff. F T 1 2 3 4 5
23. I don’t understand what love, trust
and loyalty are by normal standards. F T 1 2 3 4 5
24. I pay little attention to rules
or bend the rules to suit myself. F T 1 2 3 4 5
25. I don’t like living a life
based on the normal standards
of family, community, and work. F T 1 2 3 4 5
26. I do not learn by my mistakes. F T 1 2 3 4 5
27. I do not the use past as a learning tool. F T 1 2 3 4 5
28. I expect others
to act immediately on my demands. F T 1 2 3 4 5
29. I base my decisions on assumptions, not facts. F T 1 2 3 4 5
30. I base my decisions on assumptions
and don’t care about the facts. F T 1 2 3 4 5
31. I have a fundamental fear of injury or death. F T 1 2 3 4 5
32. I have irrational fears
but I won’t discuss or admit them. F T 1 2 3 4 5
33. I have a profound fear of being humiliated. F T 1 2 3 4 5
34. When I am held accountable for my behavior,
I feel worthless. F T 1 2 3 4 5
35. I feel put down
when even the smallest things don’t go my way. F T 1 2 3 4 5
36. I have a compelling need
to be in control of every situation. F T 1 2 3 4 5
37. I use manipulation and deceit to get what I want. F T 1 2 3 4 5
38. I refuse to be dependent
unless I can take advantage of the situation. F T 1 2 3 4 5
39. I can easily spot weakness and take advantage of it. F T 1 2 3 4 5
40. I can size up people,
figure out what they want to know or hear,
and then tell them what they want to know or hear. F T 1 2 3 4 5
41. I am an independent person but will fake dependence
to take advantage of a person or situation. F T 1 2 3 4 5
42. I am different and better than others. F T 1 2 3 4 5
43. I expect of others that which I cannot achieve. F T 1 2 3 4 5
44. I am a wishful thinker. F T 1 2 3 4 5
45. I am better looking and smarter than everyone. F T 1 2 3 4 5
46. I perceive all things and people
as objects to possess. F T 1 2 3 4 5
47. I have no concept of ownership
or the rights of others. F T 1 2 3 4 5
48. I use people for control rather than intimacy. F T 1 2 3 4 5
49. I like to control, dominate and manipulate others
or the situation to feel power and excitement. F T 1 2 3 4 5
50. I am focused only on my needs and objectives
and I don’t care what others think or feel. F T 1 2 3 4 5
Total Scores: __ __ __ __ __
Evaluating Your Degree Of Personal Responsibility
1. Review your responses and make certain you have accurately assessed each item. Note that
you have:
• Identified the specific characteristics of personal responsibility
• Assessed and monitored your own personal characteristics regarding personal responsibility
2. Review your 3, 4 and 5 responses to develop objectives for your Personal Responsibility Plan.
These responses represent items that you have decided need improvement. For example, if you agreed with and responded 3, 4 or 5 to statement 9, I make excuses, your objective would be to identify ways to use fewer excuses in your daily life. Next, place that objective on a separate page and review it weekly. After a period of time, complete the inventory again to see if you are making progress with your objectives. Use the following format to develop your objectives:
Item #9: I make excuses. Objective: Identify ways to use fewer excuses in my daily life.
3. To measure and evaluate your overall responsibility status, draw a vertical line through your responses. Review the vertical line and note its location on the inventory. By observing the vertical line, you will get a general idea of your present status in your responsibility efforts. You can then plot the vertical line periodically to evaluate any improvement in your responsibility status. You separate copies to do so.
4. To measure and evaluate your overall responsibility progress, add the scores of the items that you answered with an T. Then divide by 50 to obtain the average score and results of the overall rating.
Total Score: _________________ Divide By 50: _________________
Your Overall Responsibility Progress Rating: _______________
Use This Scale As Your Rating Guide:
1 and 2 = Your score reflects a personal responsibility.
3 = Your score reflects some personal irresponsibility requiring improvement. You
are encouraged to develop objectives for personal responsibility based on your responses
using the procedure defined in #2 directly above.
4 and 5 = Your score reflects personal irresponsibility requiring much improvement.
You are encouraged to develop objectives for personal responsibility based on your responses
using the procedure defined in #2 directly above.
After completing this inventory, you should have a basic understanding of your personal responsibility and an insight to help you develop responsible thinking in others. Additionally, this insight will enable you to better understand why some kids do and why others don’t become violent, delinquents or substance abusers.
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