What is Personal Accountability?

This seems easy enough to answer. Many people think of personal accountability as accepting responsibility for the things you do. Some tend to narrow it more by thinking personal accountability is related only to things that they or others do wrong—being accountable for one’s mistakes. But it’s more than that. Much, much more.

Personal Accountability is Freedom!

Let me explain why.

Personal accountability means accepting responsibility for your life, Your Whole Life. This might seem extreme. It might make you uncomfortable and set off alarms in your mind. After all, haven’t things been done to you by others? Hasn’t life thrown you a few curveballs, maybe even blindsided you a time or two? Haven’t things happened to you that were outside your control?

The answer to these questions is undoubtedly “Yes!”

So how are you accountable for those things? And doesn’t that mean you can’t be accountable for your whole life?

The answer is, of course you aren’t responsible for what others, life, or nature do to you. You have no control over others. You have no control over nature or the weather or random acts of chaos. And yet you are still accountable for your whole life because you have the power of choice! You choose what these events mean to you.

Your actions related to any event—or series of events—are based on the meaning you’ve assigned. If someone hurt you and you decided to never be a victim again because of that, then that’s the meaning you’ve given the event. Your actions are going to be very different from the person who was hurt and decided to never trust anyone again. If you survived a severe accident and that gave you a new appreciation for life, your actions are going to different from the person who survived a similar tragedy and now lives in fear.

Why Does Personal Accountability Matter?

Through choosing the meaning of things that happen to you, by being accountable for your life, you create your future.

Okay. That’s great. But how does personal accountability equal freedom?

I’m glad you asked!

Understanding that your choices create your future–and that the meaning you give events impacts your actions—allows you to realize that no matter what happens, you get to choose what you’re going to do with it.

You get to choose. You choose your thoughts. You choose the meaning. You choose your actions. You choose the path of your future. No one can ever take away your power of choice!

That’s Freedom!

If there’s something in your past or present that’s bothering you, try asking yourself these two questions:

“What else could this mean?”

“What good can come from this?”

Be honest with yourself when asking these and open yourself to possibilities you hadn’t considered before. You can even write down your answers. I’ve found that helps in examining all the possibilities.

These questions allow you to re-frame the thing that bothers you.

For example: I was at a movie with my wife and daughter last night. The person behind me kept accidentally bumping the back of my seat. I could have chosen to feel angry or cheated at these interruptions to the flow of the experience. I might have confronted the person behind me and asked them to stop. But I could tell it wasn’t deliberate. So instead of introducing conflict, I chose to use it as a chance to improve my patience.

The movie was wonderful. I enjoyed it much more than I would have if I’d chosen to feel angry. And I grew as a person. That’s a win-win! Learn more about how you can feel, hear, and see the benefits of Personal Accountability in your life! Visit 180-U.com today.

Always Remember:

You Are The Master of Your Destiny!

Roland

Life 180 University

What is Personal Accountability and Why Does it Matter?

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Why is Personal Development Critical to Professional Success?

Without a habit of personal development, professional success is often short lived, stifled, or non-existent. You witness it all the time, an intelligent person with marketable skills never reaches their full potential, has trouble getting or holding a high-level job—sometimes any job, never turns a profit in their business, or they achieve success in these areas only to later self-sabotage and lose it all.

Why does this happen? They have personal issues in their lives that have never been adequately dealt with. But we’ll come back to that.

Some people also try to separate their professional lives from their personal lives—instead of healing or growing. They try to act one way professionally and another personally. They often develop different personas, one for each area of their lives. But the truth is segmenting one’s life never works because at the core, our values, needs, and beliefs drive our thoughts and actions in all areas of life.

“One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole” –Mahatma Gandhi

If you want professional success, you can study or train diligently and make yourself more valuable in the marketplace. And this works. You’ll progress further professionally by improving your knowledge and skills than you will by coasting. But unless you’re taking care of developing and growing as an individual—and that means evaluating your life and taking care of past and present personal issues—you’ll struggle reaching your full potential at best and at worst, you might hit a brick wall and derail your career entirely.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO, mail-room runner, business owner, or professional athlete, if you’re hauling around past baggage it affects your performance in all areas of life. Yes, all areas.

Let’s clarify that personal issues aren’t necessarily show stoppers. They can be relatively minor things, like taking things personally, overthinking situations, and poor time management. Personal issues can also be things like inappropriate language, poor hygiene, relationship problems outside of work, even talking too much or not listening to others. Essentially, all behavior comes from emotional and psychological roots. If you’re behavior isn’t getting you the results you desire, then you must address the root of the behavior.

That’s Where a Habit of Personal Development Helps Build Professional Success.

What is Personal Development?

Simply the continuing study and implementation of improving oneself. It can include books, seminars, video series, daily meditation, and many other facets. And at the core it entails healing what needs to be healed and improving the areas of life you want to improve.

Maybe you’ve already realized the importance of continuing personal development and have integrated daily growth into your life. Awesome, keep it up!

Maybe you haven’t. I can help you get started!

Maybe you can’t think of anything that you must change personally. If that’s the case, please ask yourself, “Is there anything about my life that I’d change?”

If the answer is, “Yes.” Then you’ll benefit from adding a personal development habit to your life!

Here are a few things you can do to begin—or reinforce—your personal development habit.

Daily Meditation. There are many ways to meditate. At its simplest, meditation is taking the time to reflect on the events going on in your life. Meditation can also be clearing your mind of daily clutter by sitting in silence and focusing on your breath.
1. The benefits of daily meditation are numerous. Among them are increased health, the ability to think more clearly, increased calmness, and improved mental focus.
Goal Setting. Without goals it’s hard to hit your target. Think of your biggest dream. Write it down using language as if it has already happened. Date it with a realistic but challenging achievement date at the top of the page. Review this daily and Start Working Toward Your Goal!
Study Personal Development. There are many sources for inspiration and guidance in the personal development arena. Find books, videos, or online courses that fit you. Start studying and implementing your new knowledge.
1. I have a few books on personal development. You can read my books or find other authors who work for you. Either way. Get Started!