Hope and Accountability
Hope and Accountability may not seem like they come from the same family. Hope feels so loose and free while accountability seems strict and rigid.
Maybe opposites attract or maybe these two words have more in common and go together more like pb&j than oil and water.
Hope gives us a reason to keep pushing. Hope gives us the foothold that things can and will change. Hope is the foundational belief for expecting something more.
Accountability is an obligation. Accountability is a willingness to accept the responsibility. Accountability is the account of actions.
What if we started marrying these two up in all facets of life?
What if we stood on the foundation of hope while staying accountable to make things happen?
Change would happen. Hearts would heal. Joy would spring forth.
I can tell you from first hand experience that accountability while maybe initially off putting and frustrating is the key to unlocking your dreams and making things happen with forward progress. That doesn’t mean perfection.
So often I see people get hung up in the perfection phase of starting or not reaching out to be held accountable because they won’t be perfect. Stop it! Nothing will ever be perfect. Just get started. No one ever expects you to never make a mistake or fall short in meeting your accountability.
When I started my fitness journey the accountability is what I knew I needed. I needed to have someone waiting to see if I had worked out, if I had given it my best and what my plan was for the next day.
At first it was fun. Hey, look at me!! I’m doing all the things and excited to be moving forward towards a goal. It seemed easy to get my workout in, log my food, track my water…
Then it got less fun because things got hard, more complicated, I needed to have a real plan. The first time I had a schedule conflict, I wasn't feeling good, couldn’t make it happen as planned and the accountability felt really bad. I slowly starting slipping out of my good, fun, exciting habits because I was letting the weight of accountability crush me.
The accountability just became the new latest excuse to not do something, heap on more guilt, stop my progress and keep me stuck.
Wait, what? Accountability is supposed to do the opposite. It’s supposed to apply the right amount of pressure, the correct amount of inspiration.
You have to be clear when creating accountability that you get the accountability that works for you. If you need someone to hold your feet to the fire with no sympathy, fine. Find that person. If you need someone to encourage you through the hard stuff, if you need lots of “way to go’s” and words of affirmation be clear on that. Personally, I’m a words of affirmation kinda girl. It’s what works for me and what I’ve seen be effective in a lot of different venues.
Use accountability for what it is. Did you do the thing? Did you not do the thing? Part of accountability is just being honest about what we did and didn’t do. Then figuring out why it didn’t happen. Was it a motivation thing? A time thing? Were there unusual circumstances that popped up? Own whatever it was that kept you from doing what you set out to accomplish and then brainstorm ways to avoid it.
Maybe you did it and you get to share about how you fit it in against all odds or you carved out the time and protected it just like you said you were going. That’s a huge win and you should be excited that the accountability is working for you.
In the end Hope and Accountability do go together. Paired in beautiful harmony these two can take you places, get you to the next milestone and help you recognize what you’ve accomplished, what’s still to come and how you can get there.
Ultimately, people that love you will hold you accountable to what’s important to them but only you can get accountability to hold you to what’s important to you.
Sit down, figure it out, make a list, get clear, be hopeful, find your why, get some accountability and then get out of the way because you have stuff to do.
