CBT Worksheet
The Responsibility Pie
When guilt or blame feels overwhelming, this exercise helps you distribute responsibility fairly — and see that your slice is often much smaller than it feels.
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Find the Full Picture
Look beyond yourself to identify all the people, circumstances, and factors that contributed
⚖️
Distribute Fairly
Assign responsibility proportionally across all contributing factors — honestly and compassionately
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See Your Slice
Discover your actual share of responsibility, which is often far smaller than it first appears
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Take Action
Use your new perspective to ease guilt and shame and identify one constructive next step
How to use this worksheet
This exercise is most helpful when you are experiencing guilt, shame, or excessive self-blame following a difficult situation. Work through each step honestly and compassionately. The goal is not to avoid responsibility — it is to see it clearly, in proportion, and in context.
1
Identify the Situation
Describe the situation that has been troubling you — one where you have been carrying a strong sense of guilt, blame, or responsibility. This might be an interpersonal conflict, a professional or academic setback, a family difficulty, or a personal health issue.
A conflict with a colleague
A relationship breakdown
A project that went wrong
A family argument
An academic setback
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2
Build Your Responsibility Pie
List every person, circumstance, or organisation that played any part in the situation — no matter how small. Then assign each one a percentage of responsibility. Add yourself last. Try to reach 100% across all factors.
Who or what else contributed?
Consider: other people involved, organisational factors, unclear expectations, lack of resources, timing, past events, wider circumstances, upbringing, or anything else that played a role — however small.
Person / Circumstance / Factor
%
🙋 Me
Total:
0%
Your pie will appear here as you enter percentages
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3
Reflect on What You See
Now that you have distributed responsibility across all the contributing factors, take a moment to reflect honestly on what the pie reveals about your guilt and your next steps.
🥧 Remember: Taking responsibility for your part is healthy and important. But carrying the weight of everyone else's contributions — or of circumstances beyond your control — is neither fair nor accurate. Your slice of the pie is rarely as large as it feels.
Where should we send your worksheet?
We'll email you a PDF copy of your completed Responsibility Pie worksheet.
Your answers are only used to generate your PDF.