There’s no doubt personal accountability matters, especially in this day and age. It’s the driving force behind who you are and what you do. Author Greg Bustin speaks in this same light with his statement that accountability trumps any financial, intellectual, structural, or technical abilities in these times. It’s more or less an attitude of achieving whatever the personal objective may be in spite of circumstances surrounding you, which many times seem to be beyond your control. So, what makes this process of personal accountability so mysteriously out of reach for so many, and I use the phrase “so many” based on the overwhelming stats out there for those unhappy with their work/life structure – 70 to 80 percent is easily the norm in this area.
The Problem
All too often, you feel a sense of incompetency when it comes to living up to your conception of being personally accountable. You set standards for yourself, structure a goal setting agenda, swear you’re going to follow a regime of actionable steps toward personal change, and all too soon look at yourself in the mirror and wonder what the hell your problem is with your lack of commitment to all of this…how flawed am I? You begin to buy the notion that personal accountability is not your strong suit, and stagnation prevails.
The Solution
First and foremost, personal accountability is not a mindset – it’s a skill set. The framework, the foundation that true accountability is built on needs to be thoroughly understood for a successful outcome. Here’s a threefold approach to help you comprehend that framework, that “understanding” I’m referring to.
*Understand that staying accountable is not an emotionally based action, it’s a knowledge based action. It’s about educating yourself on whatever you’re pursuing, reflecting on the information learned, and then processing that information through a more factual based lens.
*Get clear on problem recognition. Ill-defined problems do not have clear goals or solution paths. A well defined problem has very specific goals and clearly defined solution paths. Here’s a quote from former CEO and consultant J Michael Dolan that kind of nails this point on problem recognition. “The problem is not that you don’t put in the effort; the problem is that the effort you’re putting in is not going where it is needed most.”
*Be willing to challenge the infamous Gordian Knot, a term often used as a metaphor for handling what seems to be an unsolvable situation. It’s the art of unraveling the “impossible” knot by discovering the skills needed to do it. In terms of this being a reachable goal, I’m reminded of the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey which is a fascinating collection of 45 true stories of people that busted the Gordian Knot syndrome and experienced personal success.
Some Thoughts
On a personal note in terms of taking on the challenge of personal accountability, this is something I experienced in my early days of being in the Arts.
It became clear to me after a period of time that I was going to have to be “accountable” to digging deep and learning every aspect of my artistic domain if I was going to have a credible career that went the distance. As time went on, I clearly saw the legitimacy of that premise. I realized it was essential to have value to bring to the marketplace, and that value would only be achieved through being accountable to a rigorous self-imposed learning structure which I achieved by self-educating, and here’s the greater point I’m looking to make in terms of personal accountability. Anyone, at any point in time has the option to self-educate, and this move to self-educate in my opinion should be at the top of the list for what one can do to raise personal accountability. In that light, I’ll leave you with this quote to ponder.
“Genius is the ability to independently arrive at and understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by another person.”
Immanuel Kant
