The Power of Accountability
Accountability is like getting a new gym membership. You have the best of intentions of going every day, working on the goals that you’ve set yourself, and at the beginning, you are determined. And then after the first five days or so your ambition dwindles. You start skipping out on going maybe hoping to get an extra hour of sleep in, or working on a report that’s due for work instead of sticking to the commitment you made to yourself. In order to get yourself back to the gym, you need someone who is willing to go with you and to make you accountable, not only to the promise that you made to yourself, but now you have a new promise to uphold.
Not everyone has the capability to make the necessary adjustments in their lives without some to whom they can talk to and report back to on their progress. That’s one reason why people in recovery programs have sponsors; to keep them accountable, to offer advice on the best plans of action, or how to avoid putting themselves in challenging situations. It is also why organizations have staff meetings. It is not to punish, but to see where you are in reaching your goals and determine how the team can better assist you to accomplish the goal. These people are there to help us to push ourselves, become stronger and better so that, one day, we can do these things on our own.
We also need to have accountability for our own personal actions and conversations. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes and at times say things that might be hurtful to those around us. When we do these things, it’s important that we take a moment to realize how the other person is feeling based on our actions or our words. If we hold OURSELVES accountable to go back and do our best to make amends, we might be able to save or even strengthen the relationship that we possibly wounded…
