11 Habits Of Immature People Who Never Step Up And Take Responsibility In Life

Some People Just Can’t Admit Fault

A man with a beard and short hair, wearing a green T-shirt, points towards the camera with an intense expression, as if surprised or accusing. He stands against a plain white background.

We all know how stressful life can get, and how quickly things can get a little bit… out of control. It’s so easy to blame things on other people, or the circumstances around you.

Stepping up and taking responsibility for what’s going on in your life is one of the most important things you can ever do – and one of the best. Yet some people just don’t seem to master it.

Are you one of those people? Or maybe you know someone who is annoyingly unaccountable for their actions?

If you are, or you do, you’ll recognize these 11 habits and behaviors.

1. They Constantly Blame Others

A man and woman sit on a purple couch. The man, wearing a white shirt, is pointing and appears to be arguing. The woman, wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, looks upset and is resting her head on her hand, looking away from the man. A kitchen is visible in the background.

This gets boring very quickly. Even people who adore you will get bored of you constantly blaming others for things that are within your control.

Secondly, it’s exhausting for you. Shifting the blame makes you feel shifty a lot of the time, right? We often know when we’re pushing the blame onto someone else and it can leave us feeling pretty guilty and drained. It’s unfair on the other person you’re blaming things on, and it’s also unfair on you.

2. They Make Endless Excuses

A man with short hair and a trimmed beard, wearing round, light-pink tinted glasses, is looking sideways at the camera. He is outdoors, with urban buildings and a blurred street scene in the background.

Much like blaming other people, making excuses allows you to shirk responsibility for how a situation has turned out.

Of course there are things that are out of your control, but there is a lot that is within your control too.

Maybe you’re late to meet a friend for dinner. Instead of bemoaning the traffic on your journey, just be honest and say that you didn’t leave enough time or factor in the rush hour jams.

3. They’re Always Bemoaning Their Situation

A man and woman are relaxing on a couch. The woman, in a maroon top, is lying with her head on the man's lap, pointing upwards seemingly explaining something. The man, in a blue shirt, is yawning with his hand covering his mouth. Light fills the room from large windows.

Sure, your life may suck in some ways, but if all you ever do is talk about how much it sucks, nothing much is going to change.

Again, not everything is within your control, but where you do have control, you must be willing to take it.

Moaning about your situation is often the same as waving a white flag and accepting it as permanent and insurmountable.

You have more power than you realize.

4. They Don’t Follow Through On Commitments

A woman with blonde hair sits in the back seat of a car, wearing a red leather jacket, white turtleneck, and yellow pants. She is looking down and using a smartphone. The interior of the car is black with textured upholstery.

Did you say you would do something?

Then do it.

Be someone who is true to their word and whose promises mean something. If you don’t you may find you stop being asked.

Sure, if something pressing comes up, you can explain to the other person why you are unable to do whatever it is you said you’d do. But these times should be few and far between and the reasons for them must be genuine and important.

Part of this is knowing when not to make firm commitments or promises that you know you will not be able to keep. Immature people tend to struggle with that and say yes when they really mean no.

Be a realist (and a grown up) and only say that you’ll do something if you really want to or intend to do it.

5. They Don’t Know What They Really Want In Life

A woman with long dark hair and a thoughtful expression rests her chin on her hand while gazing into the distance. She is wearing a light pink top and appears to be in a well-lit indoor setting.

A big part of taking responsibility for your life is knowing what sort of life you wish to lead.

Sure, that can be hard to figure out at times, but it is a process that you should try to stick with and go through as many times as is necessary for you to form concrete and realistic aims for your life.

You can’t take responsibility if you don’t know what you are taking responsibility for.

6. They Are Lazy

A man with short, curly hair wearing a gray t-shirt is lying on a gray couch, looking thoughtful with his hands clasped in front of his face. He appears to be deep in thought. The background features wooden furniture and a decorative item on a shelf.

The first 3 points above – blaming others, making excuses, and bemoaning your situation – all have one thing in common: they don’t require any action.

Instead, if you have done something, failed to do something, or are just drifting through life, your next action is all important.

Do you need to rectify a mistake? Do you need to apologize for not doing something? Do you need to set a course and do things to grow in life?

Taking action is pivotal in embracing your responsibilities to life.

7. They Fear Making Mistakes

A woman with short hair stands behind a window, her hand covering part of her face. She looks directly at the camera with a somber expression. The window frame partially obscures her, and the scene has a blue-tinted, reflective light.

You’re not perfect and you will make mistakes.

While it is important that you own up to these mistakes, it is equally as important to forgive yourself for them.

No human is infallible – we all make mistakes. But how you deal with them emotionally is important.

Owning up to them doesn’t make you a failure, despite what you might believe. Be gentle with yourself and know that mistakes don’t make you a bad person. In fact, mistakes are lessons that make you a better person going forward – IF you learn from them.

8. It’s Become A Bad Habit

Three women sit around a wooden table in a modern café, each holding a mug of coffee. They appear engaged in conversation. The table has a small potted plant in the center and one woman is looking at her phone. The background shows a bright, airy café interior.

Avoiding responsibility is as much a habit as it is a conscious decision. It is a mindset that you create and strengthen through repeated execution.

This can lead to accidentally pushing away the people you care about. You might accidentally blame something on a loved one because you’re so used to pushing away responsibility. This can really damage the relationships in your life.

It’s important to remember that each small shirk of responsibility builds up and can cause problems later along the line.

9. They Don’t Self-Reflect

A woman with short blond hair, wearing a white sweater, is looking thoughtfully to her right. She is seen through a reflective glass, and another person with long blond hair, partially out of focus, is in the foreground facing away.

Our thoughts and feelings can get very messy and overwhelming, so it becomes really hard to process what’s really going on. Sometimes, we don’t even realize that we’re not taking responsibility for our actions because we’re not fully aware of what’s happening.

If you can genuinely say that your contributions were faultless, well done. If not, and you’re an actual human being(!), consider the ways you could have helped out more or gone further.

By carefully reflecting on how you contributed to a situation, you’ll realize in your own safe space that you’ve got room to grow.

Constructive feedback from others can feel like a slap in the face, however well-intentioned it may be. By seeing things you’ve observed about yourself, you’ll feel more comfortable accepting feedback and will learn to own your behavior.

10. They Feel Inferior

A woman stands in front of a mirror, holding a tablet and speaking. She is wearing a sleeveless red top, with her hair tied back. Her expression suggests she is practicing a speech or presentation. The background is a softly lit, neutral-toned room.

Being unable to accept responsibility might be quite specific to certain situations for some people.

Are there areas of your life where you often resort to the blame, excuses, or moaning mentioned above?

Perhaps there are certain people with whom you cannot accept any blame because doing so makes you feel inferior or incompetent. You feel triggered when you’re with them.

Whatever the case, knowing when, where, and why you refuse to take responsibility for your life and actions is an important step in addressing this issue.

11. They Don’t Recognize Their Choices

A man in a white dress shirt and black tie sits on outdoor steps, holding a smartphone in one hand and a coat in the other. He appears concerned. A cardboard box with a plant and personal items is beside him, suggesting he has recently been laid off.

Life is full of choices. Moments when we can take one path or another.

Some choices are big. Others are small. But it is important to recognize that you make the choice one way or another.

Identifying bad choices you have made is not an easy thing to do. No one wants to admit that there was a better option that they did not take.

But accepting that the choice has already been made and cannot be unmade goes a long way in coming to terms with it.

And you have choices in front of you now. You can choose a path that can help rectify a bad situation, or you can choose a path that involves burying your head in the sand and denying responsibility.

Which will you choose?