The power of accountability

Accountability is a powerful tool to help you achieve your goals!

In a previous blog post I talked about five tips to help you reach your goals. One of the tips that I shared was that having someone hold you accountable will increase the likelihood that you reach your goals. In this blog I am going to go deeper into this topic.

Does the word accountability make you feel uncomfortable?

If so, you are not alone! Often accountability has been used in an unhealthy way by someone else that is trying to control you. They keep you “accountable” to the things they think would help you!

That type of so called accountability never really works, and besides that is not true accountability.

First and foremost, true accountability begins when you take personal ownership for your behavior. You don’t blame others when you miss the mark, instead you own it and make anything right that needs to be made right from your error.

How deep you want accountability to go is up to you. The ultimate purpose for accountability is to help you stay on track so that you get to the desired end result. You get to decide what you want to be held accountable for.

Therefore, each one must answer for himself and give a personal account of his own life before God. Romans 14:12

First of all, as Christians, we are accountable to God. When I was younger, I used to think that God was angry with me, so I translated this verse to thinking that God would be disappointed in me if I messed up. That is NOT what this verse is saying. God as our loving heavenly Father walks in relationship with us, and because He cares so deeply about our transformation of becoming more and more like Him, He knows that we need accountability. Which means that He gently corrects and guides us when we need it.

But what does healthy accountability look like with other people?

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

It is so important to walk in community with others! Why? So that we can build each other up, and encourage each other. When we isolate, the enemy has a better chance at getting us off track. There is a lot of power in living in intentional community with each other.

I believe that this verse in James is saying that when we add accountability into our lives, healing happens. Healing emotionally, relationally and physically.

Have you ever experienced this?

Over the years, as I look back to when I started walking in intentional relationship with other believers and opening myself up to accountability, I can see how much I have grown. I have grown as a wife, a mom, a friend, a leader and a business owner. When I know that someone else is cheering me on it motivates me to keep going and not give up when the going gets tough. I have healed from past wounds and I am more emotionally whole, simply because I opened up to people close to me about what I was going through.

Walk in accountability with someone you trust.

This can be with a friend, a mentor, or a coach. But, if you do not have a trusting relationship with this person, true accountability will not happen. Having a trusting relationship means that you know this person will keep confidential the things that you share with them. It means that you are opening yourself up for honest feedback, and you know they will do so lovingly and not out of judgment.

Accountability helps us with our blind spots.

We all have blind spots and we are too close to our stuff to see where these blind spots are. When we are growing and maturing as sons and daughters of God, we are always leaning in to our weaknesses so that we can become stronger and more mature.

What better way than to have someone lovingly point out those blind spots. It can be our tone of voice, a misunderstanding, the way we treat others, etc. We may not see it, but the person we have chosen to hold us accountable is holding up a mirror for us. Then, as we have clarity on our blind spots we can begin to work on those areas.

As the one seeking accountability we need to remember that correction is not rejection. If we truly want to grow we need others to speak truth into our lives when we get it wrong.

Be clear with your accountability partner about what you are asking accountability for.

Asking someone to keep you accountable is not opening the door for them to hold you accountable for every area of your life. Be specific about what it is that you want accountability for and for how long. Also, make sure to communicate what you want the accountability to look like. Do you want daily or weekly check ins? Do you want it in the form of a phone call or a text?

Being clear about all of that simply helps prevent misunderstanding and possible hard feelings between you and the person providing accountability for you.

Adding accountability to our goal setting increases the likelihood that we will reach our goals.

Studies show that 20% of people set goals and out of those 20%, 10% will accomplish those goals. If those goals are written down it goes up to around a 45% likelihood that you will reach those goals. But, if you add accountability to your goal setting, you increase your likelihood of achieving that by up to 95%

Now I don’t know about you, but that motivates me to add accountability to my goal setting!

Let me know in the comments if you have had experience with accountability in your life and how that has helped you reach your goals.