When You Live An Accountable Life,
You Not Only Take Responsibility
For Your Own Actions But Also For Those Of Others.

This may seem like a tall order, but it is important in your overall success that you understand the real meaning of “The Buck Stops Here.” Jeffrey Benjamin said, “Delegating responsibility does not diminish personal accountability.” Think about this: if you delegate responsibility, you must still be sure that you take responsibility for the outcome of the work and that means holding others accountable as well.

 

In order to delegate but still maintain control, I like to have what I call an “accountability partner.” This person is someone who reminds you of your own responsibilities and you, in turn, remind that person of his or her responsibilities. This keeps everyone “honest.”

Think about this in terms with which most of us are familiar: diet and exercise. When you go on a diet or start an exercise regimen, it is easy to “cheat.” Therefore, many people choose a partner with similar goals and share their daily struggles with that person. If one person feels like cheating on the diet or skipping exercise, the partner is there to shore him or her up. This is a great way to find success in personal endeavors. Similar methods are used to stop bad habits like smoking or even to earn money for a worthy cause. The recent “ice bucket” challenges are a great example of this!

However, in business, an accountability partner has an even more important job. When we tell someone else what we are going to do, it is difficult to fail to follow through because, ironically, we are often more worried about what other people think of us than what we think of ourselves! Accountability to others helps us develop good habits, remain consistent and ultimately reach our goals. Therefore, it is very important to share your goals with the people around you. Explain that you want them to hold you accountable for meeting your goals and allow them to have input on your timeline and the reasonableness of your plans. If you have the support of your peers and if they are holding you accountable, you are far more likely to reach whatever goals you set for yourself.

Will you be my accountability partner?

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“Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.”—Unknown

One simple fact of life is that we can achieve more together with others than we can alone. Some of us like to work alone and even avoid being part of a team because we have had poor experiences in the past working with others. However, the right kind of teamwork utilized together with others brings us much closer to success at a much faster rate than if we insist on working alone. Never ignore the power of teamwork; it can exponentially increase your success and make you much better at whatever it is you want to do.

I like to use the acronym TEAM, which stands for Together Each Achieves More. I like this acronym because it not only highlights the importance of teamwork but also teaches us a much more subtle lesson. Teamwork not only benefits the team collectively but each individual individually as well.

What I mean by this is that, as a member of a team, you are more than you are alone. You have others who shore up your weak areas and you, in turn, shore up theirs. You instantly become stronger, faster and better. You accomplish more and you have access to more resources. You become a Super You! The great thing about this phenomenon is that it has a ripple effect into the rest of your life, as well. If you work as part of a team, you absorb their knowledge and skills and they, in turn, absorb yours.

Being part of a team not only multiples your success but divides your work, making it more manageable. In true teamwork, there is always the benefit of having people around you who are good at what they do and who can take off much of the load you may be carrying. You will be able to work more effectively and get more done yourself, which in turn benefits other members of your team. Working together, you are much more likely to experience success and to experience it more quickly than you would have done alone!

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“Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions.”- John Di Lemme

Part of being successful is being accountable, not only to others, but to yourself as well. When we are accountable to ourselves we prove our accountability to others. Accountability helps us develop consistency and good habits.

When you are personally accountable, you take ownership of situations that you’re involved in. You see them through, and you take responsibility for the consequences – good or bad. You don’t blame others if things go wrong. Instead, you do your best to make things right.

In the workplace, accountability can go beyond your own tasks. You may be in charge of a team of people, in which case you would be accountable for your team’s actions and tasks as well.

Before you can be accountable, you must be honest. Success comes when you’re completely honest with yourself, and with others. This means setting aside your pride, and admitting when you’ve made a mistake. You then must will to remedy that mistake and be able to learn from it.

If you can be honest with yourself and live an accountable life, you will be well on your way to living an ambitiously successful life.

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“Don’t put the key to your happiness in
someone else’s pocket.” Unknown

Whenever I hear about a woman, or a man for that matter, who is struggling to get over a breakup or a job firing, I am always curious: how much of that person’s own happiness did he or she invest in that relationship? Unfortunately, all too often the answer is “too much.” You are the only person who can influence your happiness. In order to achieve success, you must own it; you must take responsibility for your own feelings rather than foisting them on to someone else.

Follow the logical train of thought here for just a moment. If someone else “makes you happy,” then you have put a huge burden on that person. Would you want to be responsible for someone else’s feelings? Of course not. No one would. That is an impossible burden to bear. Yet, many of us expect our spouses or our children or our bosses or our co-workers to “make us happy.” How can they possibly do that if we are not already happy?

Another reason never to fix our own happiness on someone else is because that person may disappoint us. As much as we do not like to admit it, spouses do sometimes walk away, even after years of marriage. Children may disappoint us by making poor choices. Bosses may fire us, even if we tried our hardest to do a good job. All these things are challenges, but they do not have to be tragedies if we own our own happiness. When you are not expecting someone else to make you happy, you begin to take steps and do things that are much more conducive to supporting your goals and your dreams. You just act differently, and other people will see the change in your confidence. Ironically, when you become self-confident, people are more eager to work with you and meet your expectations!

If you want real happiness and success, own it yourself. Become responsible for your own happiness and watch how quickly you move from depressing to dynamic when you stop relying on others for your joy!

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“Never allow waiting to become a habit. Live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now.”
~Unknown

When it comes to living, many of us suffer from one of two problems: we spend all our time looking back or all our time looking forward. When you really live, you live in the moment, not in the past or the future. That does not mean that you cannot follow your dreams, but it does mean that you must take the time to appreciate what is happening right now. We must learn to live each and every day as if it is the last. What will do you today to promote this mantra?

It may help to get a little perspective on time itself. Time is something that passes around us, but we are also a part of it. You have been alive every second since you were born, and during that time millions of seconds have passed. Every single moment you have lived you have been doing something. What you were doing might not have been productive; you may have been worrying, regretting or engaging in some other negative mental exercise. On the other hand, there have probably been moments of joy and happiness as well. We live each second, but we do not always enjoy each second we live.

Since we have to live every second of every day for the rest of our lives anyway (and I do not suggest you try not living them!), why not make the most of every moment? It simply makes more sense than struggling through the day. You can start by getting rid of the mindset that says, “Tomorrow I will start taking care of myself,” or “The past was so much better than the present.” You really do not have any other day but today, because yesterday is done and tomorrow is not promised.
When you live in the moment and follow your dreams on a day-by-day basis, you really begin to live, maybe for the first time in your life. No matter how much time you may have wasted in the past, start right now living in today!

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“Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss only act as motivation.” –Unknown

Entrepreneurs with high determination actively pursue their goals. they identify opportunities, take initiative, and rise above obstacles. They are focused on winning and will not take no for an answer. This attitude helps them launch new businesses, enter new markets, and invent new products despite formidable barriers.

Simply put, successful people do not give up. They are ambitious, they are driven and you must be these things if you want to reach your goals. No one can tell you when it is over, only YOU can decide when it is over. You know what they say, if at first you don’t succeed try again. Life is going to throw all sorts of obstacles at you that will make it more difficult to reach your goals, but you must overcome them, you must never give up.

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