Tips for Accountability in 2021
Personal accountability means that you are fully responsible for your own actions and consequences. It consists of our choices, mindsets, habits, and serves as an example of our integrity.
Our ability to be accountable – to ourselves and others – is a foundational component of a successful life and a prerequisite for true happiness.
It is a new year – although, we know, at times it hasn’t felt like it. Now more than ever, we are excited to turn a new page. We set new goals, which stem from a deeper place of purpose for what we want our future to look like.
But the truth is, we all need support to be our best selves.
“Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal. Individuals connected to no one can change the goal without accountability.” - John C. Maxwell.
If you want to thrive in 2021, you’ll need support that gives you:
Motivation - To stick to your goals
Multiple Viewpoints – To talk through ideas and help identify where you are getting stuck or what you aren’t seeing.
Celebration - We suck at congratulating ourselves, but we need it now more than ever
Community Support - It feels good to help others and get help from those who care about your success.
As Maxwell’s quote, above, suggests - Others can and will hold us accountable to succeed. If we aren’t accountable to others – there is no consequence of changing the goal when it is convenient for us.
Discipline takes ownership, resilience, commitment, and the desire to continuously review, learn and grow. The reward is in the celebration.
OWNERSHIP: Watch where you are pointing that finger!
My father reminded me, ad nauseam,
“When you point the finger, remember that three other fingers point back at you.”
The secret wasn’t learning to point with all four fingers -- although I tried that. The truth is, he was right. It forced me to ask myself what role did I play that resulted in the outcome I just got? The secret was taking responsibility for every decision I made - and learning to embrace the outcomes.
We need to embrace full ownership over our actions and their results – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
When the results are good – see the Celebration section.
When the results are bad – see the Resilience section.
When the results are ugly -- see the Continuous Learning & Growth section
If we are going to get the most out of our lives, we need to stop pointing the finger.
COMMITMENT: Show Up If You Want To Grow Up!
You have to show up. Isn’t that the secret to so many things?
I was a full-time entrepreneurship professor at a local college for a period. I had a colleague tell me one day, “You can’t want it more for your students than they want it for themselves.”
I couldn’t believe it. It sounded like he had forgotten the reason he had become a teacher.
But, as I continued to get the litany of excuses for missing classes, turning in assignments late, not being prepared...I realized, he was right.
Most of my class was just showing up - and participating. But, if you were there...you were participating. I made everyone sit in the front row and we were up and active for most of the class.
No one can want it more for you than you want it for yourself.
We talk a lot about how money isn’t complicated, but it is hard. Being committed is the same.
If you are going to do something, do it to the best of your ability.
Understand that progress is a process. It will take time.
Our friend, Jeff Morton, a phenomenal personal trainer, talks about the importance of Consistency over Intensity in his conversation with us. “If you were to come into the gym for 30 minutes 4 times a week you will reach your goal quicker than if you came in 2 times a week for an hour.”
Think about it in reference to sleep. If you are consistently getting less sleep than you need, one night of sleeping 12 hours isn’t going to make up for it.