Why is it that we can easily meet our boss’s deadlines? Why is it that we can get to the airport in time for our flight with time to spare? Why is it that we can submit the team report a day before it is due?
And yet, why is it that many of us let the goals and deadlines we set for ourselves slide or even disappear?
This is an interesting phenomenon that happens with regularity. People place a higher priority on meeting the deadlines and due dates imposed on us by others, sacrificing targets they have made for themselves.
The dictionary defines accountability as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”
So that begs the next question — To whom are we accountable? Yes we can have several accountabilities. Our business. Our family. Our place of worship. Our friends. Our neighbors. Our health. Our charities. Our pets. On and on. Indeed, there are a lot of priorities pulling at you.
In my experience, I’ve noted that the priority for many of my coaching clients’ personal goals falls way down the list. Or that they miss acknowledging that they are accountable to themselves completely when asked to whom they are accountable.
This article is not intended to encourage you to place all your personal priorities above others’. It is aimed at encouraging you to make sure that in the game of daily life you make sure that there is room and priority for personal growth and achievement. This happens when you take personal accountability to assure that those actions are in the mix of your daily weekly and monthly goals. And not at the bottom of the list.
Personal and professional success comes from self-management and self-care. And holding ourselves personally accountable for getting those things done without sacrificing our personal priorities for those of others. So instead of satisfying everyone else’s priorities before you start on your own, commit to placing your own priorities in the mix with your other most important priorities.
After all, who’s more important than you?
