By Pat Meehan

“When we truly take accountability for ourselves, we are freeing ourselves from the chains of self pity, poverty, blaming others, and being victims.”
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Accountability can be a very scary word. Many of us grew up to learn it as a negative word that assigned blame for something we did wrong. For example, you may have gotten a D on your report card in the 6th grade and your dad said to you, “I’m holding you accountable, mister.” That statement made the word “accountable” seem like a very tough and frightening word.

We grew up in a world of rules and regulations that demanded our conformance. Rules and regulations are very good things. They teach us discipline, and they guide us to be civilized people in a world where civilization is critical for the survival of the human race. In this world of rules and regulations, however, many of us have learned to repress our talents, our creativity, and our genius. We have learned to be inhibited to express to the world, and share with the world, all the wonderful talents and gifts that we have been given. This learned inhibition is a result of a misconception that “being accountable” is the same as the concept of conformance to rules and regulations. In retrospect, nothing could be farther from the truth. “Accountability is a personal commitment to maximize the full use of one’s talents along lines of excellence.” Only through accountability can you achieve self-awareness, and only through self-awareness can you become self-improved.

Each of us has so much value to offer to the world around us. In our transition of becoming accountable to ourselves, with a focus on self-awareness and self-improvement, we must “un-learn” the negative thought patterns that caused us to be inhibited, and “re-learn” new and energetic thought patterns that allow us to display our talents to the world. In this process, we will discover the career success and career freedom that we have longed for. Through this achievement, we empower ourselves to help others find their freedom.