Skip to main content

Can accountability really do the trick?

Lately, I have been wondering about the importance of accountability in daily life.  It was a central concept to many of the Christian movements during various times and a central theme in the Methodist movement.  But, accountability is not often part of church life any more.

I think I understand why.  Regrettably, my first thoughts of the word accountability are not positive.  I remember a yelling football coach in my face screaming about accountability.  I hear an older person with a mean spirit and a hard look on their face saying, “Well in my day …insert-item-that-they-are-upset-about-here.., I was accountable.”  To make matters worse, the term personal accountability carries with it a political baggage that it picked up during the late 20th century culture wars.  The word has a history.

But, as I reach 290 pounds and feel very overweight.  I can’t help wonder if personal accountability is what is missing in my goal setting.  I have made many attempts during the past five years to lose weight.  Each attempt has met with temporary success followed by my gaining more weight than when I started.  Many people in my range, obese, seventy pound overweight opt for surgery or a regimen of pills for weight loss.  Before I consider those options, I would like to instead choose diet and exercise as the method of my weight loss.  

So, if you have read this far, you are unwittingly part of my experiment on accountability.  I am on day 2 of a 249 day journey to 220 pounds (a healthy weight for my stature).  My tools are an app called Lose It!, daily exercise, and personal accountability.  Lose It!  allows me to track my calorie consumption and other dietary information.  For exercise, I will be walking three times a week (M, W, F) and jogging three times a week (T, Th, St).  I will also be doing some light weights and games with my kids on week nights (M, T, Th, F).  But, I have done all of these things before.  What I have not done is allowed people to hold me accountable.  So, I’m going public.

Please help hold me accountable between now and August by asking me how it is going.  And, if you feel so inclined to join in this experiment with me… pick a measurable goal, make a road map, and then ask me and others to hold you accountable.  I’ll be checking in here along the way…  We’ll see if accountability can change the results.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Now there is something you don’t see very often!

After the halfway point on my walk this morning, heading back towards home, I saw something you don’t see every day.   It was a mockingbird chasing a hawk.   The hawk was probably five times the size of the mockingbird.   But the chase was all in the attitude.   The mockingbird was squawking and chirping in a language that would make a sailor blush.   The hawk wanted no part of it and was trying the flee but could not get away from the mockingbird. What had the hawk done?  What had agitated the mockingbird so much?  Had it been a transgression?  Was the hawk just too close for comfort?  Or did the two have a history.  I was walking a bit later than normal and had not yet seen this routine.  The unusual scene distracted and entertained me as I reflected on a myriad of permutations. As I’ve felt like the one receiving the squawk most of my life as a leader, I was surprised at how proud I was of the little mockingbird.  Maybe ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grace lessons from the sidelines...

The game had gone horribly wrong.  For that matter, the whole season had been a struggle.  My nine year old daughter Kate’s soccer team were woefully bad.  They were so consistently out played by their opponents that the other teams would try to change up their formations and pass the ball so as to not run up the score (at least the classy ones would).  Her coaches were nice people doing the best they could and I appreciated their dedication to my daughter and our team, but they were not really soccer people.  Losing a soccer game is not the end of the world, but consistently watching girls you care about be beaten ten plus to zero because on goal kicks your team kicks the ball to the center and not the outside is heart wrenching to someone who is a soccer person. However, losing was not the most difficult thing.  Watching Kate become demoralized was the worst part.  In our family, we have a rule that you try and give your best... always.  It is o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Appreciation

What a different experience the second trip to Haiti has been.  Better and different in many ways.  Knowing what to expect really changes the experience.  The lack of sleep on the first day was anticipated.  Instead of focusing on my own experience as a team member, I focused more on the experience of the team. Gone was the intense fear of the unknown.  Fear had been replaced by knowledge and a sense of preparation.  The airport and chaos of tap-tap travel was not nearly as daunting.  But, do I risk loosing a spiritual part of my journey because some of it seems familiar.  It is difficult to measure. Incredible, visible progress has been made in Haiti.  Tent cities remain, but in many places clearing of the tents had happened.  There we significantly fewer tents than in June.  Also, the cars had been cleared from the streets.  In June, abandoned cars were everywhere.  Today, tragic was still crazy, goats tied to the front ...
Post a Comment
Read more