Accountability

Accountability- everyone’s favorite word! At least maybe if it’s talking about holding other people accountable. Not the accountability I’m going to be talking about today. I’m focusing on holding ourselves accountable. It’s been kind of a big deal in my life over that past few years. Before I put it as a focus and part of my healthy foundation, there was not a lot of it in my life. Not necessarily because I was avoiding it, but because I kind of just wandered around and got sucked into all the chaos of life. There were a lot of contributing factors that sparked this change. A lot of situations in life led me to come to peace with at the end of the day I do believe there’s one person or thing I control and that’s myself and my behaviors as well as thoughts. It was hard to get a handle on this, but using another tool in my strong foundation… my self-awareness, I was able to make healthy changes to my mindset, fitness, and eating habits with accountability. It’s not a magical immediate fix, but using this with the other parts of my foundation helps build long-term sustainability. Keep using these tools, and there will continue to be progress.

How I practice accountability:

My accountability works often hand in hand with my self-awareness or self-reflection. Make the time and make it a priority to look at things in your life. Be honest and ask yourself where YOU can do better. Not what other people can do or if something else changed, but where you yourself can do things. Remember, you control you and you don’t control other people and their reactions or situations. If you handled something wrong, look at what it takes to correct it. If you need to change something, like I did my eating habits, make slow sustainable changes.

Learn yourself- Having an understanding of myself, and how I operate has been important in my progress. I understand not just what my triggers are but also why.

Be patient- this is not something that will all be learned in one day. I’m still learning! Just keep consistently building.

Have a why attached to it- we do better with a reason often times. We have to attach a reason to it that’s strong enough to make us want to act on it consistently. I want to exercise because I feel good and helps keep me in shape. I eat healthier the majority of the time because I feel more energetic, less bloated, and have less stomach issues.

Be intentional about doing this and about keeping accountability in your awareness. When we don’t focus on something, it tends to get lost in day to day life. This leads to inconsistency and inability to consistently progress.

With being intentional- set aside time to focus on this. Reflect, journal, do what works. If something comes up that you could be doing better- be accountable and honest with yourself. Hold yourself responsible. That can go anywhere from working out the number of days you’ve said you’re going to workout, to cooking 3 days a week to nourish your body, or even if you were wrong in something- own your role and think of a way to try to make it better for your own mental well-being.

This is a continuous ongoing cycle of looking for improvements, being honest, making changes, trialing them, and adjusting! Keep at it, and don’t get discouraged. Look at the situation and trial a solution. It’s not failure. Just adjust and keep going J. Now Sparkle Up Buttercup! Let me know any thoughts you have. I’d love to hear feedback from you guys!!!