I have a close friend who has the potential to excel in our programming class. He has good analytical skills, which help him identify errors in the code faster than the rest of us. Additionally, his strong logical thinking skills enable him to solve problems that we find too complicated to understand. However, his lack of responsibility holds him back.
From the prompt posted by @galenkp, if I could change one thing about someone close to me, it would be my friend’s attitude in terms of taking responsibility.
To me, taking responsibility involves admitting something and taking action to address it. For instance, I might admit that I procrastinate a lot, but I take responsibility for it by reading self-help books to improve myself. Taking responsibility also means acknowledging that you need to take action rather than pointing blame onto others.
On several occasions, my friend has shown that he's afraid of taking accountability and tends to blame others for his lackings. Once, we encountered a tricky question on our exam that few of us could answer, but my friend couldn’t. Instead of accepting that he hadn’t studied enough, he ranted about how ineffective our professor’s teaching was. Then there’s also a time where he mentioned that he was planning to transfer to another university because he believed our college's curriculum wasn’t helping him learn, rather than maximizing the resources available to build his knowledge and skills.
He comes from a well-off family; he has his own desktop computer and a fast internet connection. In my opinion, the internet alone offers countless tutorials and learning resources. From my experience, I managed to grab a free copy of a course that usually requires payment, which significantly improved my skills. However, instead of taking responsibility and using these resources, my friend has become dependent on others.
There's a line in the book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" that says, "...we individually are responsible for everything in our lives, no matter the external circumstances." At first, I didn’t understand this message and was confused by the author’s point. I even denied it, thinking that some situations are beyond our control. For example, many people don’t choose to be poor but still face the struggles of their situation. However, as the author elaborated, I gradually understood. While we can't control external circumstances, we can control how we manage them; whether we take action or simply accept them. Poverty, for instance, is a hindrance to a decent life, but it is not an excuse to avoid taking responsibility to improve one's situation.
I offered my friend a copy of "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck," believing it could help him improve himself. Unfortunately, he declined, saying he wasn't a fan of that kind of book. I really want my friend to improve and reach his full potential, but he chooses not to. I hope he changes before it’s too late. I somehow understand his initial reaction as taking responsibility is difficult at first, but it’s a gradual process and cannot be achieved overnight.
