Uncommon Accountability

11PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

INTRODUCTION

We have tried in the previous chapters to contrast the differences as we see them between the traditional definition of accountability and what we refer to as Uncommon Accountability based on personal ownership. We believe that ownership of one's choices is at the heart of true accountability. Most individuals intuitively understand accountability as a personal character trait, a discipline to make good choices and to take productive action, yet people who struggle with accountability often don't trust themselves to make productive decisions consistently. They often have low self‐efficacy, not believing that they will do what it takes to accomplish their goals, but rather that they won't do those things.

In Chapter 1, I told a quick story about how we helped my daughter, at an early age, learn to make productive choices based on their likely consequences. As parents or influencers of children or teenagers, we can have a huge impact on the course of their lives by helping them understand the cause‐and‐effect relationships between their choices and the lives they will lead in the future.

Research shows that a few of the choices we make early in life can set us on a path of outcomes and consequences that don't come to full fruition until decades into the future. The high school years are a particularly critical time where independence grows ...