Accountability | Start Building Wealth By Being Accountable

by RJ

in Making Money

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“Some favorite expressions of small children: “It’s not my fault. . . They made me do it. . . I forgot.”  Some favorite expressions of adults: “It’s not my job. . . No one told me. . . It couldn’t be helped.”  True freedom begins and ends with personal accountability.” – Dan Zadra

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” -  George Burns

Each one of your actions produce a single result. It doesn’t matter if you succeed or fail, at the end of the day all you have is a result.

The best part about results is that you’re 100% responsible for them.

Before I started having success in sales, I would always pass the blame onto someone else. If I didn’t achieve, it would never be my fault. To me the blame was always on how our markets wouldn’t get the right price, the economy, the buyers personality, etc… No way could I be responsible for not making the sale.

Once I realized that I was 100% accountable for my results, I started achieving. Instead of selling on price, I learned about selling on value. Instead of looking for a personality match, I learned how to sell to different personalities. It took a long time and a lot of education to apply these principles, but I knew I wouldn’t be successful if I continued on the same path.

It’s very easy to point fingers, we see it done everyday. Whose fault is it that we’re in this economic crisis? It could be the U.S. Government because they pushed for banks to stimulate the housing market by making loans to sub-standard applicants. It could be the banks fault for approving these loans. Why not the  mortgage brokers fault for pushing potential homeowners to purchase a home they couldn’t afford? Last, blame could be put on the homeowners for not realizing that you can’t afford that new home.

The point isn’t to debate whose fault the housing crisis was, it’s to see how it’s become acceptable to pass the blame. The Republicans blamed it on the Democrats. The Democrats blamed it on the Republicans. The banks, on the other hand, wanted the Government to be held accountable. The mortgage brokers wanted the banks to be held accountable. Last, the home buyers wanted the mortgage brokers to take responsibility for pushing these loans.

If just one party stood up and said, we’re going to be 100% accountable for our actions, we could avoided a pretty big financial mess. Instead all of them decided to pass the blame.

If you want to start building wealth, a great way to start is by declaring yourself 100% responsible for the current state of your finances. It’s not your bosses job to give you a raise, your spouses job to spend less, your friends job to stop asking you out to eat, or the Governments job to provide relief, only you can be the one to change your present circumstances.

How I Will Be Held Accountable

Once I pass the certified financial planning exam, I will be working one on one with someone on their finances. I think it’s only fair that if I’m asking someone to take accountability for their finances, I need to be doing the same.

Each month, I will share with you you an update of my financial state. The monthly review will give you a detailed report on important statistics like net worth, income, and expenses. Most importantly, this monthly review makes me accountable for my actions.

The best part about statistics like the above are they are pretty simple. My net worth, expenses, and income either go up or down. If one month, my income is less than my expenses, I better have a good excuse and you better be able to call me out on it.

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{ 1 comment }

Madisen HarperNo Gravatar October 5, 2009 at 6:01 am

Hi RJ

I love your post and think it’s right on the money! I believe as soon as we give up blame, finger pointing, excuses, procrastination, acting confused, playing helpless or doing just enough to get by – we, and the world, will be in a better place.

I’m a passionate advocate of being 100% accountable and actually just did a videoblog on the topic if you’re interested:
http://www.madisenharper.com/AccountableVideo.html

When we’re accountable we send out a strong message of the behavior we accept from ourselves and those we deal with.

Wishing you a wonderful and prosperous journey.

Cheers
Madisen

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