Life Attitude – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

Reflections on accountability

There is an English word I have always loved, one of my favorites: accountability. Look it up in a Spanish dictionary and you may simply find "responsabilidad." Yet the word goes further than responsibility. It carries an element of attitude, and that is what prompted this post. When we combine the sense of being responsible with the right attitude toward those responsibilities, we have a way of life that beats any other, and I stress the point: a way of life. Amid constant distraction, we let that accountability for our own lives slip, and what slips most easily is the attitude with which we answer for our actions. We can be aware of the responsibility, and if we lose sight of the attitude, we start thinking someone else can always sort out this or that. Wrong. Nobody in this world will solve our problems better than we will.

The first factor in having the best attitude toward life is hope. Yesterday was yesterday, today is today and tomorrow will be tomorrow. Something I truly admire about Stoicism is its focus on what we can control and its willingness to let go of what we can’t. Taking that step is the key that opens the door to hope. However small the step (and even more so if it comes from love and helps someone else), it opens a path of light and optimism that we will never find while waiting for something or someone else to solve our main challenges. It is remarkable how easily we fall into the trap of blaming all our troubles on something or someone else. That attitude reveals a deep lack of hope that we ourselves can find the best answers. That is why I value the idea that before anything else we need to put our own house in order, to make our bed first before going out to change the world.

Being accountable for our lives means being proactive, taking the initiative whenever something is unclear: "I’m responsible," whether that means doing it, finding out, looking into it or putting a stop to it. Proactive responsibility is another key to an attitude that doesn’t wait for things to happen. Things happen when we are proactive in everything. Today, for instance, we are about to enter November, and nearly everything we have achieved this year is the result of the attitude we chose to steer our ship. Proactivity also goes hand in hand with perseverance, and I love how both connect with self-discipline. Precisely when laziness peaks, or when we are tempted to put something off, attitude becomes decisive in reaching the goals we set. No goal moves an inch without the right mix of proactivity, perseverance and self-discipline.

Perhaps the less flattering side of the word accountable is owning the consequences of our actions. What I love about it is that it also means owning the consequences of NOT acting. Among my Sunday goals, along with going to Mass with my family, is writing something tied, or that can be tied, to a purpose, whether a business purpose, a personal one or a team’s. An attitude toward life that combines responsibility with being accountable for what we do (and what we leave undone) is directly connected to carrying a clear, concise and objective life purpose. The best actions spring from the right attitude toward life, and that attitude acts through the responsibility of holding ourselves accountable for a life guided by purpose.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. For anyone who wants to learn about Stoicism, Stoic Week 2023 starts this week. Here is the link: https://modernstoicism.com/stoic-week-2023-6-12-november-2023-learn-more-and-register/

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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