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Posted On Nov 18, 2015

Updated On Jun 25, 2025

Personal Accountability - Actions And Outcomes

Wellness Wisdom

Originally contributed by Gwen Pettit, PT, PCC, MA, MS

One of the greatest myths floating around is that each of us is entitled to a meaningful, happy life fueled by a successful career, supportive relationships and financial security. There is a great disappointment when we go about our lives expecting all of this to just magically happen and it doesn't materialize. Is there truly any chance of living a fully integrated and satisfying life in this age of chaos, uncertainty, and ongoing change?

Yes, if you are willing to be 100% accountable for your actions, responses and outcomes.

No, if you blame outcomes on external events, other people, and wait for the good things to just happen to you.

No, if you keep blaming yourself for poor outcomes without making any change in your behavior or attitude.


There is a simple formula to explain accountability. Outcomes are a result of your actions and your attitudes. Here's an example ...

Let's say that you wind up working late most nights. You are working as hard as you can - trying to keep up with records, phone calls and the demands of a busy practice. What happens? Everyday stress is cumulative and over the period of a few weeks turns into bigger stress. Your health ultimately suffers - you are losing sleep and never really get time to relax. You start to feel "stressed out" and pay less attention to family, friends or have little left for anything else after work. After months or years of this, the outcome can result in broken or lost relationships, no support system and feelings of despair that now creates a mental health crisis. Does any of that sound familiar?

Inaction and apathy can allow a bad situation to escalate and that can result a very poor outcome. So, what are your choices?Awareness is key to stepping up and making change. Before you can make a change in your patterns you need to recognize and understand them. Start by paying attention and reflecting on your current situation. How do you spend your time each day? Identify when your day seems to flow seamlessly and the hurdles that cause you to get stuck. Ask for help. Ask those who do seem to get through their day seamlessly, how do they do it.


Here is a coach's approach to personal accountability and paving the way to better outcomes. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. What do you consider to be a difficult situation in your life right now?
  2. What are the benefits (to you) for keeping things the same (relating to this situation)?
  3. What are the costs (to you) to keeping things the same?
  4. What are you doing or not doing that allows this situation to exist?
  5. What are you ignoring or pretending not to know?
  6. What do you want?
  7. What actions are you willing to take or what requests could you make to get what you want?
  8. When will you take the first action?

To make positive changes and to strive for better outcomes in your life you must be accountable. Start by practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply the ability to be fully present in the current moment - it will help you notice the small stress in situations. Then, look for solutions - find areas where you can make small changes. Take action. Monitor the results of that one action. Keep adjusting small steps until you are satisfied that you are getting the results you desire. Take some time and use those questions to work through a difficult situation in your life.  In my next post I will use these questions as a template and provide you an example based on my experiences in coaching.