Seeking more accountability in your life? How coaching can help.

Are you seeking more accountability in your life? Are you finding it hard to stick with the new project, goal, or desire you’ve created? You’re not alone. Accountability is one of the number one reasons people seek coaching. For many accountability is easier when it’s to someone else versus themselves. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

From the time we began to walk and talk we have been accountable to someone. First it was mom and dad, then it was our school teachers, perhaps the person we babysat for, or a school club leader. Then came post secondary and professors, after that our employers. We even become accountable to our life partner in many ways. For some the lesson on how to be accountable to ourselves may have gotten missed. 

Having an accountability partner certainly helps us achieve our goals. We don’t want to let that person down so we do what we said we would. Maybe you want to lose weight, so you join Weight Watchers and are accountable to your leader and the scale each week. Maybe you want to start running so you find a running partner to help you stay committed. Or perhaps you’re a self employed person and join a mastermind group to help hold you accountable to your business goals. Whatever the need, having someone along for the ride helps us to keep our word. 

DEFINING ACCOUNTABILITY

A quick definition search on Google for the words accountability and responsibility will yield a focus on completing tasks at a job. Our North American society is acutely focused on completing those tasks.  When instead we focus on being accountable to ourselves it becomes less perhaps about checking a task off the list and more about keeping our word to ourselves. 

Accountability in a coaching relationship is about working on that relationship with yourself. When we keep our word to ourselves and get to that place either internally or externally that we wanted, the result is often confidence and pride. When you begin to be accountable to yourself, you change your way of being in the world. You change how you and others view you. Your self esteem begins to grow. 

Looking more closely at the word you’ll notice in the middle is the word “count”. Being able to count on someone is important to us, we need to know they will be there for us. But can you count on yourself? Do you have a sense of responsibility to self? 

EXPERIENCING IT

When I first experienced coaching one of the things I loved about it was that when I reached the place I wanted to on my journey, my coach was there to celebrate with me. She knew what I had faced. She knew the challenges and struggles, she had been present to my experiences as they occurred. Yes I was accountable to showing up for my sessions with her, but by being that partner on my journey she was able to reflect how much I had been accountable to myself and what I wanted in my life. This helped my self confidence and had me want to keep going towards my dream. To take responsibility for where my life was going. This is one of the benefits of coaching. 

Being accountable is another one of those big life lessons. If you’re seeking more accountability in your life and want support to get there, then consider coaching. It may be just what you’re looking for. There is no better time than now to work at being the best you you can be. 

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