Holding Yourself Accountable by Ciindy Stradling CSP, CPC
As leaders, we regularly hold others accountable for their actions and for doing their jobs. In many cases, we find it easier to hold others accountable than ourselves. It’s easy to make excuses about our bad habits or our failure to stay focused. 
Learning to hold yourself accountable and ensuring you live up to the standards you set for others is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself as a leader. To help ensure you stay true and accountable, begin practicing the following skills.
- Write down your goals. Know what you’re working toward and when you plan to have achieved it. Monitor your progress regularly and make adjustments when progress isn’t going as planned.
- Write down your tasks. This is the first step toward holding yourself accountable. Make a list of what you will do either daily or weekly, in order of priority. Work on high priority items first, and then move to lesser priority items. At the end of the day, if you haven’t made it through your list, decide how to handle this issue, either working late to complete the items, or moving them to the next day’s list. Over time, you’ll get a good handle on how much you should get accomplished in a day, and you’ll begin to see patterns emerge regarding what gets in your way of accomplishing your daily or weekly goals.
- Have an accountability partner. Work with someone who will hold you accountable and you hold them accountable. Have regular check in calls and document progress. Work with someone who is comfortable to call you out when you get off track and visa versa.
- Give yourself incentives to ensure you get work completed or meet goals. You can use positive or negative reinforcement to help you stay accountable. For example, promise yourself you can have a special night out if you complete all your tasks this week. Conversely, you could deny yourself something you normally do because you enjoy it if you don’t meet your weekly goals.
Holding yourself accountable takes discipline. These exercises are designed to help you develop this self-discipline to the point that you don’t even have to consider whether or not you’ll meet the requirements you set for your self. Once you have this self-master, you’ll be well on your way to being the leader you’ve set out to become.