I have always been a fan of accountability because it takes the onus off everyone but YOU to meet and exceed your level of success in all aspects of your life. If you break down the word you have account and ability, which I would translate into accounting for one’s personal ability. Truly who but you is responsible for where you want to be in life? Who but you is going to fight for what you want to accomplish in your life? Who but you is going to account for the daily actions and behaviors you choose to exhibit, which ultimately lead to the breadth and depth of abilities needed to obtain and achieve that which you deem success?

More importantly recognize we each have our own unique gifts and talents which we are personally responsible to identify, develop, perfect, and enthusiastically act on. If you are not sure what those gifts or talents are, I urge you to be still and contemplate where you are most at home, where people have given you compliments or praise, where you feel most at peace, confident, content, and harmonious. Consider the activities associated with these events/times and hone in on the talents and gifts associated with what you do best. Cultivate those actions, words, deeds, behaviors and watch in amazement where it takes you.  And yes, when you first start off, things may not always go as you expect. You will stumble and fall, but then you will get up and move forward, knowing in your heart you are on the right path to shining and bringing forth your best abilities!

I encourage you to look at yourself introspectively & ask yourself the following questions:

• What did I do today that is getting me closer to my personal and professional goals?
• How dedicated am I to bring forth my best efforts and does my consistency support my dedication?
• Do I believe I am actively using my gifts and talents or do they remain tucked away for someday?
• What do I have in place to measure my personal accountability?  Diary, spread sheet, goal statement broken out by strategic and tactical steps you will take to reach your desired destination.
• Who can I recruit as my accountability partner? The sole purpose of this partner is to share your goals, objectives and measurements; and for this individual to hold you in check for either reaching or not reaching them.
• What do I need to change, maintain and/or do away with relative to thoughts, words, deeds, self talk, actions, and behaviors to better align myself with what I want to achieve in life or bring out my natural gifts and talents?
• Am I enthusiastic about what I am trying to achieve for myself? 
• Do I have a passion for reaching my personal and professional objectives?

(If no to either of the two above– I recommend you rethink or reconnect as to why you are doing what you are doing – if you have no passion or enthusiasm for what has to be done to accomplish your goals and objectives, or if you feel conflicted internally– it simply won’t happen or you will do it with a great deal of resentment and later regret. Be smart about how you use your time, it is so valuable and irretrievable. )

• Am I moving forward in my life with Joy, Peace, Wisdom, Faith, Hope, and Love for me and others?
• Do I feel good about where I am in life and do I feel fulfilled by my day to day activities?

You and you alone can allow yourself to shine, as only you can – Account for Your Ability!  

Here is a quote by Maryanne Williamson that offers further encouragement to be the best YOU:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it is in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 8:27 pm and is filed under The Dynamic You. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.