Are you holding yourself accountable???

When was the last time you took stock of your own personal failures and successes? If was recent what did learn from both? If you can’t remember the last time you did, then the question is why haven’t you? There will come a time in each and every one of our lives where we will know that ultimately we are responsible for ourselves. We own each decision that we make, rather it be good or bad and the quicker that we realize it in life the more we stand to learn. So the ultimate question is, are you holding yourself accountable?

If we start with basic self-accountability thinking on an adult level, things like ensuring your rent is paid, it will help this go a bit easier. There are real and true consequences to not paying your rent, and we all know what those are. So to avoid those you hold yourself accountable, and in doing so your rent is very high if not the number one thing on your list of priorities.

Now, why is it that this same level of accountability cannot be translated into different aspects of our lives, it is literally that simple. There are way too many levels and circumstances that we place on accountability simply because it is easier to blame the failures and shortcomings on circumstances rather than address them. If you tell yourself enough times that outside circumstances are what is really holding you back, eventually it will start to be true, a good lie eventually becomes the truth, or one that sounds good anyway.

Most people and most major companies call failures opportunities. A failure is a FAILURE, it’s only an opportunity if you have a plan to improve. There will come a time and place where we have to stop putting fancy terms on failure, be real and call it what it is. There will come a time and place where we have to stop making bad decisions sound better with semantics. There will come a time and place where we all have to look in the mirror and decide, who is responsible for me. Someone else cannot want your success more than you, just as no one else owns your failures.

I will set the tone. How many of us, especially those of us from the South, have heard the term “cut off your nose to spite your face”. What does it accomplish, who have you hurt and what have you ultimately done? How are you in a better position now that you have “cut off your nose”? All you have done is shift blame and in turn caused another issue, one that will take more time, energy and effort to fix. Think about how much you could have accomplished and how much further along you would be if you would have simply owned up and moved on in the beginning.

There should never be a point in time where the actions of others cause you to come up short. Life is indeed a team sport but you have to give YOUR maximum effort, put good people on you “team” that will give the same effort and be the first to call you out when you come up short. YOU and no one else are responsible for your success. YOU and no one else are responsible for your happiness. You are not just blaming someone else for you not being able to be successful, you are giving them your power. TAKE YOUR POWER BACK AND OWN YOUR LIFE. So, once again, the ultimate question is, are you holding yourself accountable?