"I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude towards the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life.
I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have is life itself,"
says Walter Anderson, a renowned political scientist and social psychologist. It is convincing if we want to advance our lives personally or professionally, we must hold ourselves accountable for our actions, responsibilities, and goals. It is thought provoking, why should it be someone else's responsibility to make sure you are doing the things that you know you should be doing?
It is an obsolete discernment if one attributes his mistakes to others and not accepts them as its own responsibility. The one, who yields to himself/herself, thinks that it is always the other person who is the reason of the troubles he experiences. In relationships within work, family, friends, that is to say in every conflict, people believe that it is the opposite side that causes problems. One may believe that he is never understood, that he cannot explain himself, his thoughts, his will and what he wishes to say. If one listens to himself, one may delude himself with such thoughts.
At the same time, he cannot realize his own deficiencies and mistakes. Consequently, for him, realizing his mistakes and making up for his deficiency will be beyond the bounds of possibility. If someone thinks that he is treated unjustly and believes that others are always accountable for the matters, then his evaluations of these will be shallow. Furthermore, he may react hastily, poorly, unreasonably, emotionally and above all, in a manner that does not suit the morality. He will be in a mood that adopts negative attitudes to himself and his friends. And it will not be possible for him to adopt an attitude full of love and beauty towards other people.
Being accountable for our own actions means that we would be able to explain to someone why we did something. We would also take responsibility for the outcome. If we were to jump off of a high wall, we would be accountable to ourselves for the fact that the laws of gravity will take over and bring us to the ground. If we act in a way that affects others, we will be held accountable to those other people for the effect that our actions had on them and would be asked to explain and stand responsible for that effect.
Every action that we as people make is accountable to some law whether it is the law of gravity or a law of decency or a law of the criminal justice system. If we cause harm to someone else or to someone's property, we can be held accountable for our actions.
The criminal justice system and our court systems are enacted to enforce the laws of accountability and responsibility. For those who refuse to be accountable, there are ways for others to seek that accountability and for investigators to learn how and why something was done. This in turn helps those who want to hold the offending party responsible.
Personal accountability in also important to demonstrate self-awareness and reliability, as taking responsibility is a sign of courage and leadership and it's a key factor that allows other people to develop trust and respect for you. It is an article that wraps every aspect of human endeavors and is also essential to self-development and self-confidence. It is among the most important of social glues, the entity that engender trust. It doesn't have different uses and importance in professional versus personal lives; rather it is of universal importance.
When you take 100 percent responsibility for holding yourself accountable, your performance will improve, your relationships will flourish, your market value will soar, people's respect for you will skyrocket, you will be a great example for others to follow, and your self-esteem will grow. How is it that in all these areas of your life you can see such dramatic improvement? Because when you hold yourself accountable to doing the things you know you should do, you will distinguish yourself from the crowd.
Time is the key component of being personally responsible. By avoiding procrastination, instant results will be evident through increased quality of work and reduced stress. Creating a simple to-do-list and setting completion goals is a great place to start. By setting timelines with goals and targets, it is important to include breaks and rewards. Larger goals should be created with target set along the way. This will help to achieve these larger goals. Scheduling time and being specific about priorities will give you a clear path to follow. Every project should have a start and a finish date with pivotal milestones throughout. Without milestone targets there is the possibility of misinterpreting the timeline.
Self-accountability is something a lot of people typically avoid, which is the reason of many issues that originate. In many instances of our lives, and in our country and our society, there are times where people aren't accountable and don't own up to what they're doing. Social and political problems are abounding in this country from people not being accountable and responsible for what they do. Our country is full of instances, playing out everywhere, of people who make poor decisions, and try to get others to bail them out. While this is a fact of life, it's certainly not one I want to be a part of.
We should find out that we are held accountable in the court of probity, as politicians, public officials, public prosecutor, legislatures, teachers, journalists, doctors or vendors whether we have voluntarily taken on some responsibilities or others thrust upon us. Regardless of how we have the responsibilities we do have a unifier, and that is following through on those responsibilities must stand utmost priority.
If we fail to follow through, we lack accountability and betray the trust that others have placed in us, then the glue that makes up our personal social world begins to fray. People instigate not to trust us and how should our esteem survive with lack of trust?