Increasing Personal Accountability to Boost Your Mood
Personal accountability means taking ownership of your words and actions and the consequences associated with these. Holding yourself personally accountable can help keep your behaviors in check and even boost your mood. Furthermore, personal responsibility allows you to be confident in your own actions and aware of your mistakes.
What Is Personal Accountability?
While blaming external factors for your actions often feels more comfortable (after all, who wants to blame themselves?), it doesn’t lead to any long-term growth or development. Improving your self-accountability enables you to learn from your mistakes and be careful with your actions and words.
Holding yourself accountable can improve your mental health and allow you to retain long-term, meaningful relationships.
Examples of Self-Accountability
Wondering what self-accountability looks like? Here are some examples:
Owning your mistakes and being apologetic to the people involved
Reflecting on your actions and identifying room for improvement
Asking people for help and support whenever required
Why Is Personal Accountability Important?
Taking responsibility for your actions, including the positive or negative results of these, allows room to be genuine and authentic in your relationships, leading to trust-building and empowerment. It also helps you gain a greater understanding of your own capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, improving your confidence and self-esteem.
Besides personal relationships and self-confidence, personal responsibility is also extremely helpful in your professional life. Companies value self-reliance and self-confidence in their employees. Being able to hold yourself accountable for your actions is also a highly desirable professional trait.
8 Behaviors That Help Develop Personal Accountability
#1 Understanding Your Role in a Given Situation
To take ownership of your tasks and actions, you must first understand your role in different situations.
#2 Being Honest With Yourself
Being honest when you have made a mistake is undoubtedly tricky. However, it can lead to long-term improvements in your future actions and thoughts.
#3 Apologizing When Necessary
Owning up and apologizing when necessary is a vital part of relationships. It can help mend relationships when ruptures occur and alleviate any guilt or negative feelings associated with the mistake.
#4 Managing Your Time
Managing your time is a crucial behavior when it comes to personal accountability, as it allows you to stay in control of your responsibilities and adhere to deadlines.
#5 Remaining Open to Feedback
Being open to receiving feedback from others helps us reflect on our behavior and make positive adjustments in the future.
#6 Learning When to Say “No”
As much as we’d love to say “yes” to everything, there isn’t enough time in the day. Pushing yourself past your limits can lead to burnout. Prioritizing the most important tasks and saying “no” to anything that pushes you past this can help you stay mentally healthy.
#7 Setting Goals For Yourself
Setting goals helps us clarify our expectations, giving us a clear picture of what we can and want to achieve. This clarity allows us to develop personal accountability as we set ourselves a clear target that we are responsible for achieving.
#8 Recognizing Who You’re Accountable To
Whenever you are taking up a task, it’s important to know to whom you will be accountable. This helps put things in perspective and allows you to achieve your goals more efficiently.
Final Note on Personal Accountability
Personal accountability can help you become a better, more well-rounded individual. It can also boost your relationships and lead to more professional success. Adopting behaviors that help develop personal accountability can spur us on to achieve our life goals.
This blog is made for educational purposes and is not intended to be specific medical advice for any particular individual. It does not create a physician-patient relationship between Mental Wealth and the reader.