By: D. A. Slinkard
Have you taken the time to notice how much we blame other people for our downfalls? Turn on the news, open a newspaper, or listen to conversations from the local coffee shops; it seems that someone is blaming someone else for the pitfalls of our world, our country, and our society. To me, it seems we lack accountability on all fronts. We need to understand the next time we go to point fingers at someone else, we have three fingers pointing right back at us.
As I reflected on the accountability sentiments, I started seeing our societal demise coming to fruition all in that word — accountability. There was a friend who was rushing home from work because a conference lasted longer than it should have. He was caught speeding and felt the ticket he received was not his fault but was the sole result of his boss being long-winded. Wrong way of thinking.
I was at a store recently and heard a customer blame the cashier because the customer left her debit card at the checkout. Excuse me? How is the debit card being left at the checkout the cashier’s fault when the debit card being used has the chip? The customer was at fault, not the hourly cashier. Again, wrong way of thinking.
I listened as a small child blamed her parent for the bad grade she received on a school art project because the parents did not buy the right crayons. Again, wrong way of thinking. Did the parent correct the child and teach about that word accountability? Nope, and once again, we have the wrong way of thinking.
The examples are endless when it comes to accountability or the lack thereof. What we must do is begin to take control of our lives and realize that we are responsible for the life we have and don’t have. Everything that we have gotten thus far in life is because of what we have and have not done. We cannot blame others for our failures when we are the ones who are responsible, yet too many people have the wrong way of thinking.
Now it’s your turn to properly reflect on how things have been going in your life. Have you been placing blame onto others that you really need to take personal responsibility for? We are all guilty of this, but we must first realize there is an issue. When we are able to lift ourselves up beyond the point of blaming others, we are able to hold ourselves accountable for what happens and doesn’t happen in our lives.
I truly believe that if we want success in certain areas of our lives, there are two things that need to happen. We need to hold ourselves accountable for the results we get, and we need to become obsessed with what we want to achieve. I was reading a Tony Robbins book recently and a quote that stood out to me was, “There is no such thing as failures in life. There are only results.” I have to admit that I really, really liked that quote because of how true the statement is. If we are having success, we don’t want to change a thing in how we are going about our business.
However, if things are going bad, we are quick to look at things in the terminology of success and failure. Not true. If we are not getting the results we want, then we must change the way we go about our business. Examining what works and what does not work enables us to hold ourselves accountable for our results.
The next part is the truly fun part, and that is becoming obsessed with that which we desire. If you want success in a particular area, then you must become obsessed with that area.
How many times do we treat what we want to be successful at as merely a hobby? Are we going to have success? Are we going to be motivated to hold ourselves accountable? To find success in what is important to you, you must learn to become obsessed with becoming the best. When you have that obsession to succeed, you will no longer have to worry about whether or not you will hold yourself accountable.
This is going to take work and will not be easy. The more obsessed you become, the easier it is for you to find success in your life. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard would love your feedback. You can contact him at da.slinkard@gmail.com
April 19, 2024
