5 Stages of Self- Accountability: Moving from Dis-Ease to Empowerment

Self-accountability: This is something that we strive to do and be, right? It is one of the 5 keys to fat loss success.  We hear it all the time from our coach.  We know how important this is but unfortunately, this trait doesn’t just happen because we say we are going to BE.  Self- accountability has stages that we go in and out of before we truly are THERE: totally self-accountable for every action, thought, or spoken word.

Stage 1:  Denial: This is the opposite of accountability.  It’s an emotional and mental state that sounds something like this: “Nothing’s wrong. Everything is fine. I am going to bury my head in the sand because I don’t want to know anything about this.”

Stage 2: Blame:  This is where we acknowledge an issue but “it ain’t my fault”.  We blame those around us for our inability to get things done, reach our goals, or even our lack of planning. Or we might even blame genetics for our diseases and obesity. “I am this way because I have a family history of X.”  Sound familiar?

Stage 3: Excuses:  So now we are getting closer to being self-accountable.  Now we acknowledge that we may have some accountability but we make excuses why we are not planning our food, exercising, choosing healthy foods, etc.  Now this is sounding really familiar to me.  “I am too busy.”  “I had no other choice.” “Social pressure was too much.” “I had to eat it, my grandma made it for me.”

Stage 4: Anxiety:  This is the final stage prior to accountability that we start feeling real ownership for our actions, thoughts and words.  “Listen, you know what?  I get that I am not planning my food. It’s not somebody else’s issue, it’s my issue, and I’m not even going to fall back on an excuse that there were these other circumstances. It’s on me. But now I’m freaking out because I don’t know if I can do this well.”  This anxiety is when we are very close.  We are uncomfortable with our thoughts and yet we are on the brink of total self-accountability.

Stage 5:  Self Accountability:   This looks like “Despite the challenges I’m facing, I will handle this. I understand how I am acting. I’m going to measure my progress, work on it and I won’t give up. I take ownership, and I enjoy taking ownership.”

During these visits to Stage 1-4, we experience dis – ease.  We feel discomfort in our gut, emotional upheaval, or even anger.   Remember – these are stages that we travel in and out of.  The more practice that is done at stage 5, the less visiting we do at the other stages.  Are you feeling any dis-ease? Where are you in your self-accountability to your health OR in other areas of your life?