Hi guys! Today, I wanted to dig a little into the ‘how’ behind anything successful – accountability. When it comes to doing something well, understanding why it’s important to you is going to take you far, but that alone is not going to get you to the finish line. For some of us, just the desire to do well will keep us working hard and focused on the task at hand for the moment, but that desire in itself isn’t enough either. You need accountability.
Let’s think about it really practically. When you were in school, did you submit your homework assignments on time? Why? What happened when you didn’t? What did you do next time? Do you see what happened there? You were given an assignment that needed to be completed. You may have really wanted to do it. You may have been super interested in the subject too. But what was the main driver? Your teacher would be checking and maybe grading your work the next day. And if you didn’t get it done, there was a consequence. Maybe detention. Maybe a poor grade. Something that I bet strongly encouraged you not to miss doing a homework assignment again.
So, let’s think about your finances. You may really want to be debt free and build a good savings. You’re motivated. You may be super interested in building a budget and getting a better handle on your finances. But you know what? You need an accountability partner. Someone that’s helping to make sure you’re getting your work done. And we all know what happens when you don’t do the work – unmet savings goals, spending more than you make, endless cycles of debt, working harder than you need to for longer than you want to. A hard lesson to learn and recover from.
Now, you can apply this to just about anything, not just finances. Marriage, parenting, friendships, self-improvement journeys, devotional life – all are improved when there is accountability. Like Proverbs 27 says, “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”. Get in community with people that will keep you accountable for reaching your goals. Besides, the journey is always a little better when you don’t have to walk it alone.
Jan's Life 