Tag: life

Don’t blame apathy.

Posted on by philipdodson

fullsizerender-32

All too often people seeking to bring about change use apathy as an excuse for people not taking action or not being outraged by something. I have uttered many times ‘no one cares’ or ‘I can’t believe there aren’t riots in the street about this’.

The truth is people are focused on what affects them and their lives, also, if people are going to take action, it has to be something that is easy to do, appealing and will generally be about something that inspires them.

Moaning, outrage about injustices, and criticising a system without offering an alternative attractive and inspiring solution, will always result in apathy. Guilting people into action is a failure and most often has the opposite effect to the desired outcome, no one responds to their opinions, choices and actions questioned by others and being made to feel guilty for them.

No one cares until they are inspired into action by something that has an outcome that is appealing to the person expected to take action.

Inspire, be the leader you want to see, be the change you want to see and do something appealing and others will always follow. Offer a solution that is worth taking action to achieve and gives a result others will truly care about.

Finally, make the change exciting, fun, appealing, rewarding and worthwhile. After all, we’re looking to make a change.

Accountability isn’t about blame

Posted on by philipdodson

fullsizerender-30

All too often we confuse things in life and the word ‘accountability’ is often synonymous with blame and losing your job, especially in the corporate world.

Once someone utters the word ‘accountability’ everyone runs for cover. When we get to ourselves too, the thought of being accountable sends shivers down our spine, we can no longer blame others.

Accountability is not about blaming others or blaming ourselves, it is not about blame in any way.

It is about realising that we are responsible for our outcomes in life.

Realising responsibility removes the opportunity to hide behind excuses, so this, in turn, facilitates learning, learning if applied leads to better outcomes and thus accountability is the catalyst for better outcomes.

From the moment we are born to the moment we die, we are the only common factor in every single thing that goes on in our life that matters. We can not control what others do, or the weather or any other common excuses. We can control what we do and in order to improve how we control ourselves, we have to learn, and learning can only begin once we accept that we were responsible for the outcome. Not to blame, but to be responsible, there is a huge difference.

Blame creates victims and blocks progress. Responsibility creates an understanding that we created the outcome, so therefore, we can learn, improve and create better outcomes.

Don’t look for blame, look for learning and take account of what we do. It is the route to better outcomes and a happier life.