What Is Accountability?
Let’s talk about accountability, a topic I’ve been wanting to write about for a while now.
One thing I frequently observe in the States is, that people tend to make promises, yet when it comes to walking the talk; they miss in action in the name of “being in the flow”.
Yes, life has its own flow that we need to surrender to and flow with, yet we also need to take willful action towards our plans and dreams. It’s important to create rituals and structures for our dreams and also learn how to flow with the unknown. But let’s not confuse this with using “being in the flow” as an excuse for inconsistent behavior. Yes, life is unpredictable and plans change. We might not have all the answers today and what we have planned for tomorrow might need an update. Even so, we should still be responsible for the changes we make since every change has an impact on everyone involved in the plan.
This is called accountability: seeing the bigger picture and taking responsibility for the impact of our choices and behaviors, and the changes we impose on others. “Owning the impact” is what we call accountability. What I want to point up is how this impact can cause harm on others. Since “prioritizing our needs” and “being in the flow” are the trending topics of our era, we mostly overlook the fact that words lose meaning when they are not followed by actions.
Consistency of our words and actions is what makes us reliable. And when words and actions tell a different story, we let other people down and eventually, lose our reliability. We should definitely flow with life and always prioritize our needs, however, we should also be aware of and accountable for the impact we have on others.
This is how we begin transmuting unhealthy egoic mindset to healthy collective mindset.
We must realize how interconnected and interdependent we are.
And every thought, word, choice, and action has consequences on others. We must be more mindful of the ripple effect we create with our being. And if we choose to blindly flow with life at the expense of letting others down, we should not expect them to rely on our words again.
Because at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words.
