The word can conjure a sliver of guilt for most people. What was your first reaction to the word?Dread? Resentment? What if you could transform your relationship to accountability in such a way as to have you thriving in life??
The Business Dictionary defines accountability as: “the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner.” Sounds pretty significant! But really, it is as simple as be reliable – do what you say you are going to do and show your work.
I think we want to be an accountable society, to be people who do what we say we are going to do. Except of course when we don’t follow through, then we get really good at coming up with reasons why we not only didn’t do what we said we would, we come up with reasons why it’s better we didn’t do it. Or blame someone else. Or blame this circumstance or anything else except ourselves. Unfortunately the results are the same despite the reasons:
People are disappointed
Projects are incomplete
Financial goals are not met
You lose faith in yourself
I too am guilty of blaming my circumstances and others for not doing what I said I would do. And I got the results I got! In turning over a new leaf in this past year, I’ve started looking in two new places:
Where have I stopped taking action to fulfill what I said I would do?
Where can I create structures to support me in finishing what I said I would do.
Some of of my new actions were as simple as scheduling goals and then following the schedule to accomplish those goals. What really helped was to set up a network of friends and colleagues to report on my progress. Productivity is contagious and it helps to be held accountable by people who are equally up to fulfilling on their goals.
The result? I am happy to report that my productivity has increased and my relationships are the healthiest they’ve been. I’m so happy about my results that I’ve created a prosperity structure to share called the Prosperity Accountability Group. Stay tuned for next week’s post for more details.
What do you do to support your commitments? What do you find most effective? Fresh ideas are always welcome, please share in the comments below!