There was this girl I knew when I was in secondary school far back. She was constantly failing mathematics. In each of the times she failed, she would blame everyone else but herself. She would blame the teacher, the exam format, the school, etc. But after a while, she finally decided to tell herself the truth that she has not been serious with studying mathematics. It was at that point that she decided to take responsibilities for her academics. She created a study timetable, asked for help and extra lessons, practised regularly. By the end of that term, she was among the top 5 mathematics students. Her performance improved because accountability helped her to focus on working on herself, not trading blames. If you must grow, then you have to be accountable for your life.
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You have to understand that personal growth does not come by accident. Rather it requires conscious and intentional efforts, discipline, self-awareness, and accountability. Accountability simply means that you are bearing the full responsibility for your actions, decisions, habits, inactions, and the results that come from them instead of blaming someone or something else. Without being accountable, it may be difficult to grow. This is because real growth begins to happen when you have honestly told yourself the truth about what needs to change, and then take up actions to change it.
It is true that a lot of people want success, good achievements, progress, improvement, etc. But the question is; how accountability are they even when things become uncomfortable? To some people, it feels easier to blame failure on back luck, on the system, on difficult situations, than to take a reflection within yourself to know what really happened and then fix your mistakes. If you avoid responsibilities and accountability, you may be stuck at the same place for long without making a meaningful progress. If you do not tell yourself the truth about why something has happened, it may happen again.
Honest accountability actually begins with self-reflection. That is, looking within first, to know why what happened has happened, not looking outside first. This includes asking yourself crucial questions like "what role did you play that caused the situation?" "What habits should you let go that is holding you back?" "In which aspects of your life are you supposed to change or improve?" This will help you to build awareness and then take accountability for your life. You can only grow when you tell yourself the truth and be sincere with yourself.
Accountability is very important because it gives you the control over your improvement. You can only improve when you know that you need improvement, not when you deny the obvious. When you accept the responsibilities for your actions, it will be easier to gain the power to change them. But the moment you start blaming people for what has happened, you may lose the power to change your actions. It is accountability that shifts your focus from looking for excuses to looking for the solutions.
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Accountability also helps to build discipline. If you always hold yourself accountable, then you are more likely to be committed to your goals even when you are not motivated by external factors. You will even understand that progress requires consistency, discipline, and responsibilities, not just acting when you feel like. Accountability also strengthens your character. When you admit your mistakes and move to correct them, it will make you more human, and will also make more mature.
It is also worthy to note that accountability improves interpersonal relationships. People will trust you more and take your words more seriously when they know that you are responsible for your actions and when you are accountable. This also makes people to entrust more things in your hands. To build a good relationship, you have to be honest, trustworthy, and accountable. If you want people to take you seriously, then you also need to take yourself seriously. You cannot live the way you like and hope for people to take you seriously. Accountability helps you to be committed to what matters, and to your goals. Remember that this does not mean that you should be overly harsh on yourself. Because it is not a call for condemning yourself, but improving yourself.
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