Member-only story
I’ve had an accountability problem.
In my mid-teens, I was highly conscientious. When I set a goal, I’d stick to it, never taking time to deviate. It was only when I realized I was chasing someone else’s goal and not my own that I turned towards a more creative, spiritual side.
No longer so tightly bounded by logic and scrupulosity, I found myself swept away by creative forces. I started to have ideas. I became a creator. While I maintained some habits, like writing every day, a lot of my more distant goals fell to the way side, often being replaced by new ones.
The truth is that I haven’t been holding myself accountable. Commonly in a reflective mindset, I am always wondering if what I’m doing is the right way to spend my time rather than simply doing it. I think I may have swung too far.
Don’t get me wrong: creativity is beautiful and necessary. It needs to be oriented, though. Often, boundaries on your creativity enable it to thrive.
In short, my goal is to stop dreaming up new projects and to start dreaming up new ways to approach the projects I’m currently working on.
Accountability is especially difficult in environments with sparse feedback. Take cold-emailing for a project, for example. We all know most cold emails won’t work, but how do I know how many should? How many more emails…
