It’s a new year.

Maybe you’ve said to yourself, I could use some accountability to help me hit my goals, stick to my plan, break that habit, whatever.

Brian Moran and his co-author Michael Lennington have a different spin on accountability in their book, The 12 Week Year.  They make the connection between our freedom to choose, and the impact of the consequences of our choices, good or bad.  This freedom to choose is, in their minds, the “foundation of accountability.”  Once I begin to see I’m responsible for my outcomes, based on my choices, based on my freedom – when I can own that accountability is first between me, myself and I – that’s where growth can occur.

And any accountability partner you’re looking for ought to be coaching you or challenging you back to this level of your own choices.  Once I take responsibility for anything that’s happening in my life, I find that I suddenly have the power to do something about it.

In this short excerpt from their book, the authors focus in on the two things we can control: our Thoughts and our Actions.

“All of us have a tendency to look outside of ourselves for things to change and improve.  We are waiting for the economy to pick up, for the housing market to turn around, or for our company to come up with a new product, more competitive pricing, or better advertising.  It’s easy to become a victim to outside circumstances, spending time and energy hoping and imagining what our lives would be like if the world around us were different, believing that these are the keys to improving our results.  The truth is you don’t control any of these things.  The only things you control are your thinking and your actions.  But those are enough if (and it’s a big if) you are willing to own them.”

(12 Week Year, p.47)