Are You Accountable?

How would you like to have only a 5% chance of NOT achieving a goal or task!

What makes a goal or task 10%, 25%, 40%, 50%, 65%, and 95% likely to be completed?

The secret lies with accountability, and below you’ll learn what accountability is, why it’s important, and how to be accountable from today forward.

What Is Accountability?

Accountability is ownership and responsibility. Instead of blaming or making excuses, it is simply saying, “I own this,” and “I am responsible.”

Why Accountability Matters

When you are accountable you shift your mindset from one of victimization and blaming (powerlessness) to one of ownership and responsibility (powerful). Because the highly accountable don’t succumb to excuses and blaming they are the doers and go-getters that naturally rise to become top performers.

How to Be Accountable

First, commit to having an “ownership” mindset. Accountability begins fully inside your mind. Memorize the phrase “I am responsible” and apply it to all aspects of your life. Believe and repeat this phrase regularly to take complete ownership for everything that happens. Never allow yourself to blame others or circumstance.

Second, effectively plan and do what matters most by pre-week planning. Learn to manage your time effectively. Taking ownership of your time is taking ownership of your life.

Third, set accountability appointments to return and report on your big goals, assignments, responsibilities, and expectations. A study by the American Society of Training and Development found the following:

Having an idea or goal: 10% likely to complete the goal
Consciously deciding that you will do it: 25%
Deciding when you will do it: 40%
Planning how to do it: 50%
Committing to someone that you will do it: 65%
Committing to someone with a specific accountability appointment: 95%

In other words, when you commit a written goal – or a task, assignment, due date, etc. – to a person and set an accountability appointment to report on how you did, you are 95% likely to complete that goal or task. Or, you’re only 5% likely to NOT complete that goal or task.

So, choose today to be accountable and choose to take ownership of your mindset, your time, your goals, your tasks, and your life. That’s becoming your best.

Did you miss last week’s invitation to achieve the “one goal”? Find the recap here, and apply what you learned this week to “your one goal” for this upcoming week!

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill

“Taking personal accountability is a beautiful thing because it gives us complete control of our destinies.” – Heather Schuck