The difference between bulletin board and a Responsibility Board is you.

What Martin Timell and Ernst Kirchsteiger don’t know about regular bulletin boards is that they can easily be made into a Responsibility Board. Home Makeover guys don’t have a clue how to do this, but I do. As always, it began with a bored Sunday...

I’m sitting in my room, in the middle of the floor and thinking about what to do with my life. I'm nineteen, and I go to a community college in southern Sweden. I have teased hair and a plush jacket. Eyeliner under my eyes. The entire piece. All my friends will soon have bought flats, drink latte on Sundays and go to electronic clubs, but we are not quite there yet.

Right now I sit and try to deal with the windy, uninspiring weather that is typical for the south of Sweden going on outside. My problem is that I don’t know what my problem is. The door opens and Markus comes home. I live with Tommy and Markus. We are three guys who all love movies and candy. Of course we should live together.

Markus comes in my room with a regular board.
- "A bulletin board," I say.
- "No. A Responsibility Board," says Markus.
- "What is the difference," I ask.
- "I will show you," says Markus.

What you need in a situation such as this is you average bulletin board. Nail it on the wall.
You also need a regular calendar. Put it on the board.
Also,  you need white paper where you write up all the months of the year. And then you write down what you need to get done every month. Everything from paying bills to finishing a home exam, a poem or to increase the distance of your jog from 5 to 6 miles. Simply put up your goals for each month.

On a Responsibility Board you also need post-its, preferably in different colors. Color is good for the soul.
You need a pen that you attach with adhesive so that it stays put.
You need a plastic pocket where you can insert bills.
You need some paper folders. They can hang at the bottom. A folder for each project you're doing.

- "Do you see what is happening here?" asks Markus.
- "Yes," I reply.

The difference between a bulletin board and a Responsibility Board is that a bulletin board is made of cork, wood and a thin piece of masonite, while a Responsibility Board is made of what you want it to be made of. Dreams, ambitions and goals. What happens is that you structure all this stuff for yourself. You embody and clarify. It won’t always go fast. It doesn’t have to, either. For me, it took 19 years to realize that I needed a Responsibility Board. But once I started spreading my post-its and checking off things I had done from my lists and getting a grip of every day on that calendar, I realized that I had always longed for a very special Responsibility Board.