Accountability has been on my mind lately, and it’s not just because I now have an accountability partner (accountabilibuddies for life!) within my emerging leader cohort. While I was still working, accountability was the “it” word; each year’s employee satisfaction surveys always brought up accountability as sorely lacking within the company, and every year there was some new action undertaken to remedy the problem.

In my personal life, accountability has taken on a new meaning. Staying home with Little Man, it would seem like I have all the time in the world to get things done, but there really is not that much time in a day. Yes, he takes 1 or 2 long naps each day, but I use that time to decompress and usually end up fast asleep right next to him! Each week, I review my calendar; making sure there is a meal plan, the shopping list is prepared, and my chores are mapped out. I am my own accountability partner for a lot of it; Squatch is also a good partner, but he has a lot of other things on his mind (his job is number one right now, and providing for us as a family).

Accountability also rears itself in other ways. When you are on your own path that does not conform to the rest of society, it is difficult to find accountability partners, and so you have to hold yourself accountable for your decisions. Whether they are decisions on the homestead, decisions regarding your garden (or lack thereof; there is always next year!!!), choosing a doctor, making the choice for where to settle down, etc., you need to hold yourself accountable for your choices, even if there is no one else there to do so. It’s not easy, and it is definitely not comfortable, but it has to be done. If not, why are you taking the risk? As we march on down this path to liberty, we have to hold ourselves accountable for the decisions we make. They are not simple decisions, either, but once they are made, there is no going back.

How do you hold yourself accountable for your actions?