Accountability: Does It Matter? Is It Important?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about accountability. I know for myself and the people I choose to surround myself with, there are so many things we want to do that it’s sometimes difficult to know what to do first, why we’re doing it, what we already know how to do vs. what we need help/training/coaching on, and how to stay on track and get it done.
As a Professional Career Coach, I am a big believer in ongoing training, education, development, and coaching. I read books, take classes, network with amazing people, participate in interesting forums, and I personally work with a coach, Ann Strong of Thriving Coaches. She helps me to stay on track, move forward with digestible steps, yet also stretches me gently beyond my comfort zone and shines light on the areas I can’t see because I’m the one “in it”.
Somehow, when I tell her I will do something (I take on ‘homework’ in between our coaching sessions), it gets done! I have really accelerated the results in my business in this way. The funny thing is that I know I’m ultimately accountable and responsible to myself but putting a ‘stake in the ground’, saying it out loud to someone else whom I respect (and invest in!) and assigning a date to it… gets it done.
I started wondering what other areas of my life need more accountability. For example, I know that I would like to be exercising more and eating differently/better. But I’m not really doing it. I make some progress but then backslide, stall out, and then get overwhelmed. I wonder why this area seems so ‘easy’ for some people and difficult for others.
So, if apply my methods of success in my career coaching business to this area of my life, I know it’s time to get accountable to someone… so I did it. I mean, I know what to do: how to exercise, my exercise options, why building lean muscle mass is important, why eating healthier matters, and so on. But I wasn’t doing it until I held myself accountable to myself through someone else. I invested in myself to break the big goal into digestible steps, to get clear on why it’s ultimately important to me, to know what success will look like, to examine what may be holding me back and to clear it, to have another perspective, and to ultimately get it done and taken care of thereby fulfilling another goal and dream.
The dictionary defines the word accountable as this:
-adjective: subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.
It sounds so serious yet it pretty much sums it up. So, my questions for you are this… How do YOU stay accountable in your life? In your career? In your job search? etc. What do you need to put in place to create more accountability to yourself so your goals and dreams become reality?
If I can help you to get accountable, stay on track, stretch and grow towards your career and/or job search goals, please let me know. You can check out your options here:
And please comment!
