If you’re a fan of the QBQ! book and follow us on social media, then you know this: We are really big proponents of PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY (PA).
We write about PA, train on PA, give keynote presentations about PA. And, like you—work hard to practice PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY at work and home.
My wife, Karen, and I even wrote a whole book on the power of accountable parenting!
But … why?
Why should someone commit to making PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY a core value? What’s the advantage, the benefit, the real “win” to doing so?
Why not just stay in the all-too-human blaming, finger-pointing, victim-thinking, and procrastinating mode? Why not let entitlement thinking creep into our lives???
Tell us. We’d like to hear from you.
Vote in our poll below. Choose from the poll’s list what you believe is the real value of living a life based on PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY:
Here’s the poll: Why Practice Personal Accountability?
After voting, leave a more detailed comment below with your thoughts on WHY someone—anyone—should practice PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. We’d love to hear your opinion.
Thank you!
PS: And if you don’t happen follow us on social media, here’s how …
19 Responses
Because people of integrity take responsibility for their actions.
Ulitmately I see it as a matter of having (and living a life of) “integrity”….I almost picked the “Other” category to enter something about integrity. When I saw the results so far, I see someone did click on “Other” and entered “Greater Integrity”…kudos to the person that entered this vote!
Ron, thanks. Integrity is a must for an accountable person!
I fall into the trap on occasion like most people. Sometimes at work, and sometimes at home with the family. But the family is what usually brings me back to PA. I want my children to see it. I want them to hear it. I want them to understand that accepting PA is part of growth and learning. I communicate to them times at my job where I have chosen to be accountable. I want them to see that there is integrity in PA at work even when it admitting fault. I dont want my kids to have to learn about PA as an adult after they have become used to vitcim thinking and passing the blame. Its easier to learn and grow with it than it is to try and change. Kids. Its my reason.
Kevin, couldn’t agree more: It all begins at home!
If we don’t own our actions and our environment, who will? Nothing would get done. You see that now in real world time. If it was taught in the home at an early age, it would carry through to people in their professional lives (at least you would hope). I think being personally accountable in situations beyond your control (which is something you all advocate for) is one of the hardest to do. Sometimes you just WANT to be mad at someone and throw your mini adult temper tantrum. But in reality there is a problem, let’s address the problem and make it work. When we make it work, we keep things rolling, there is no stop gap and the world is a happier place. I think we will always encounter those who pass the buck, lie and blame others and we can go to our graves knowing we didn’t sit idly by in practicing personal accountability and we know we’ve done everything we can do to make a situation better. That is peace O’ mind RIGHT THERE!
Eva, “peace of mind” is a good thing, for sure! Thanks for sharing!
Personal Accountability is about making a choice to be more than society expects. It is about embracing challenges and seeing them as opportunities. It is about enjoying life and the people who share it with you. It is about finding out who you are without needing the approval of others. I started towards accountability thru the study of objectivism and the writings of Ayn Rand. My life has steered a course in which I must hold myself first to change and inspire those around us.
Eric, agreed. Change me first … that’s where it all begins!
I hate hearing the blame game. Although I sometimes fall into that trap myself I cringe when I hear myself talking about others when I should be talking about what I could have done differently.
I have tried to ban the words “its not fair” from my family’s vocabulary to try instill it early into my kids!
Wayne, yes – those are great bad words to ban. I fight using them still!
Because it’s the right thing to do.
Short and sweet – and true!
If you don’t take PA, you are giving up control of your life to those you blame for the things that happen to you. If the soccer team I coach blames the referee for losing a match, there is no hope. You cannot “fix” the referee. You will have someone new as the referee next time and he also will be imperfect. To be a winner, you have to work to make yourself and your team good enough to overcome a bad call by the referee. You have to work on the things that you control and one of those things is yourself.
Amen! And the “beat the ref” metaphor is Chapter 16 of the QBQ! book. Good stuff!
I see most of the previous comments convey my position, too. Personal accountability is all those things integrity, peace of mind, the right thing to do, and it something more… it frees each one of us to be happy. We are not those people we see in supermarkets or department stores scowling or snarling. We can smile at the cashier who charged us too much for an item, we get it fixed and make the cashier smile too. Personal accountability brings life into all facets of our lives!
After following PA for years (and still working on it daily) I found that when the chips are down and people know you’re integrity they stand behind you. Recently my Mom of 93 was very sick (she’s recovering now) and I had to cancel a week of work. Knowing that I always keep my commitments, all of my clients not only rescheduled their appointments, but also sent in scores of prayers and well wishes. PA counts in the good times and especially in the hard times. It really does cross over from professional and family life!
Practicing PA has helped me in my personal life and in business. It simply “feels good” to accept responsibility for one’s own actions without a need to rely on others to succeed.
it’s simply the right thing to do!