Accountability

I was speaking to a group of Co-op Business students as part of my real job on Friday morning and I used a phrase that I've said to students a 100 times "Use the time you have, not the time you wish you had."  It's a basic principle of time management.

I then went on (as I usually do) to talk about prioritization and procrastination.  Part of this session has to do with promises... if you're willing to promise someone you care about that you'll do something then you're more likely to do it because you feel accountable.  On the other hand people need to stop promising themselves they'll do something if they know full well they won't.

Sometimes I have an over developed sense of accountability and responsibility.... in other words, guilt. I feel guilty if I put something in the garbage can instead of in the composter because the compost bag is full and I don't want to change it. This is probably a good time to feel guilty since then I empty the compost but it's probably not a good thing if it's going to make me late for work.  Same goes for emptying the cats' litter box.  Same for emptying and refilling the dishwasher.  Or folding and putting away laundry. In case you're wondering all of those things added up to make me late for work on Friday. Oops.

This personality trait tends to make me extra sensitive to a lack of accountability in others.  When I come home to find Husband got busy and forgot to do a job he promised to take care of I have a tendency to get perturbed (not a good character trait).  When I buy raspberries from a local store that shall not be named and they're moldy within a day I get rather frustrated. 

I know in the blog world many of us have a sense of accountability to our readers and to each other.  Sometimes this leads to guilt if we don't post often enough or if we feel we haven't provided enough support to our swap buddies.  I'm sure we all need to give ourselves a break on that sometimes.  On the other hand it makes us feel quite betrayed when a we win a giveaway or competition and the prize never appears or we sign up for a gift swap and our item doesn't arrive.  I know that's happened to a lot of folks out there, myself. 

Since this has largely been a little babbling, rant (which actually used to account for about 50% of my blog content so it's nice to do one) I'll wrap it up by saying that this summer let's go easy on committing ourselves to things that aren't a priority but, for the sake of the blog community and each other, if you've promised a prize to another blogger, come through for them!  Oh, and obviously try not to be late for work because of the dishwasher... the dishes will be there when you get home... though at my place the cats will likely have "helped" clean them.

Our "Clean Up Crew" Never Cries Over Spilled Milk