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Accountability, commitment and routines are a must for the long haul!

By Bamboo In The Wind

Accomplishing anything requires mental focus. Bringing focus has been a rather intriguing problem to crack for ages. Focus is an ever-elusive form of behaviour.

You have an uncanny ability to lose focus on anything important. You bring in umpteen number of distractions to your rescue just when you begin to focus.

Vitality focusing is not apparent until the effectiveness of focus is in the picture. Focus begins with holding yourself accountable to be somewhere, to do something, to prepare, to help, to reach out, to gather; there are so many things you are engaged in. Each one requires you to hold yourself accountable to act in a manner that those things are made possible.

Accountability is a close cousin of commitment. Without showing commitment, you are unable to perform the task at hand. It is one thing to say that you are accountable. Commitment implies a realization of that accountability. Commitment is fulfilled when you are seen showing up.

But the trickiest part is both accountability and commitment are intangibles mental states of being truthful to something you desire to do. There are ways you can manipulate those mental states. For example, a flexible schedule is one of the primary contributors to the absence of accountability and commitment.

There is the role of routines. Routines are inflexible schedules. They are rules that you do not negotiate with. You get up at 530am and go for a walk 5 days a week; you read a page away; you walk your pet morning and evening; have dinner early; spend bed-time playing with kids every night; switch your phone to silent when having an important conversation; be the last one in the room to speak after everyone else speaks. 

There are simple-looking routines you can follow. They look simple but following them requires accountability and commitment. The very intangible states that you find hard to abide by. With routines comes a visible measurement of accountability. You can see if you met your commitment as you decided.

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