Having a strong sense of self-accountability is the cornerstone of success and productivity. Self-accountability simply means you are holding yourself responsible for your successes and failures. Most of us feel a sense of accountability towards our managers, co-workers, clients, customers, friends, family, and even society in general. If you are a solopreneur, it is far more difficult to hold yourself accountable.
Self-accountability requires a constant mindful examination of your own values and motivations. Having strong core values makes it easier to make tough decisions. Strong core values make it easier to focus on the things that are important, and ignore the things that are not. Without knowing what your core values are, it is easy to get lost in a sea of decisions, and the onslaught of the daily grind. Be mindful of your decisions and actions, and making sure that you are not out of integrity with your core values.
Be mindful of your emotional states as well. Rather than being driven by guilt or fear be driven by self-respect and self-love. If you beat yourself up too much, you can drive yourself into anxiety, stress, and depression. If you don't hold yourself accountable enough, you can drive yourself towards apathy, laziness, and anti-social behavior. Respect and love yourself enough to know that you deserve to be happy and to lead a productive life.
Being self-accountable can be scary for some solopreneurs. It's easy to take ownership of one's successes, and it's not so easy to take responsibility of one's own failures. Self-accountability means you are responsible for both. It doesn't matter if you work for a team or if you are a solopreneur, in the end, you are responsible for your own actions. You can't control or predict how others will behave, but you are in full control of how you will react to the people you encounter, and the situations presented to you in life. You are accountable for your own decisions.
As a solopreneur, you are accountable for your own successes and failures. Self-accountability, then, is not something to be feared. Self-accountability is actually empowering. Self-accountability simply means you are in charge of your life. Isn't that what being your own boss is all about?
Young B. Kim is a writer, artist, serial entrepreneur, and the creator of ideavist™. Young's mission is to help people make their ideas happen through his writing, coaching, consultations, and through speaking engagements on ideation, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
Read more of his articles, visit www.ideavist.com