By: D. A. Slinkard
Have you ever taken the time to notice how much we blame other people for our own downfalls? Turn on the news, open a newspaper or listen to the conversations from the local coffee shops, it seems that someone is blaming someone else for the pitfalls of our world, of our country and our society. To me, it seems we lack accountability on all fronts. I’m not turning this into a political diatribe, but I will say that the next time we go to point fingers at someone else, we need to realize 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 the friend who was rushing home from work because a work conference lasted longer than it should have. He was caught speeding and felt that the ticket he received wasn’t his fault but was the sole result of his boss being long-winded. Wrong way of thinking.
I was at a store the other night 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 parent didn’t 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 the life we 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 that are responsible, yet too many people have the wrong way of thinking.
Now it’s your turn. 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 life.
I truly believe that if we want success in certain areas of our life, 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 is 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 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 doesn’t work enables us to hold ourselves accountable for our results.
The next part is the truly fun part, and that is becoming obsessed about that which we desire. If you want success in a particular area then you must become obsessed with that area. The last article was about defining your priorities and this is no different. Think about how successful your priorities will be when you become obsessed with them?
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.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard is the manager of the Athens Staples store
