 I’d
like to take a moment to invite you to share in
a short exercise of personal accountability with
me.
Look around your work space or office and point
towards something that causes you frustration,
gets on your nerves, or makes you downright angry.
What did you point at? Was it your telephone,
that never ending to-do list sitting on your desk,
or perhaps your manager’s office across
the hall?
Keep pointing and take a good at the hand you
are pointing with… Do you notice anything
interesting about where your fingers are pointing?
That’s right… by pointing the finger
at something else you are simultaneously pointing
three fingers right back at yourself. In fact
it’s impossible to point a finger of blame
at anything or anyone else without pointing three
fingers at yourself.
There is an important lesson to be learned here…
It’s easy to point the finger at others,
but far too often we fail to recognize that we
ourselves may be partially (or even wholly) responsible
for the circumstances we are unhappy with. This
can be a bitter pill to swallow, but we are almost
always accountable in some way or another for
our situation in life and the results (or lack
thereof) that we achieve.
Now try this… Take
a look at what you pointed to just a few moments
ago and instead of blaming this item or person
for your frustrations think about how your actions
(or lack of action) contributed in part to the
situation.
-
Are you irritated by the
constant stream of telephone calls when you
haven’t done an adequate job of following
up on customer (internal or external) complaints
and concerns?
-
Is your to-do list constantly
growing and stressing you out because you
fail to prioritize tasks and continue to procrastinate
large projects and responsibilities?
-
Are you frustrated by your
manager’s lack of communication with
respect to performance expectations even though
you have never asked for clarification of
what she expects from you?
My intention here is not to make
you feel bad about yourself, but rather to shed
light on the fact that every time we blame someone
or something else, we are in some way responsible
for that which we are frustrated with or upset
by.
What this exercise is all about is personal accountability
and taking responsibility for our actions and
looking for ways to improve our current situations.
It all boils down to the questions we ask ourselves
and if these questions are focused on blaming
others or making things better.
Let’s take another look at the items of
frustration listed above and reframe our questions
to focus on taking positive action and improving
the situation:
-
What can I do to better serve
my customers and reduce the number of complaints
I receive?
-
What can I do to ensure that
I am keeping up with my workload? How can
I better prioritize my responsibilities and
work more productively and effectively?
-
How can I better communicate
with my supervisor to ensure that I clearly
understand what is expected of me?
When we ask better questions of ourselves, we
get better results. Period.
The next time you consider pointing a finger in
blame someone or something else, remember that
you are pointing three fingers right back at yourself
and ask yourself what you can do to improve your
current situation.
Now go maximize possibility!
1-866-988-RAIN
Copyright 2008
The Rainmaker Group, Inc.
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