Allowance

“What we allow, is what will continue.” I couldn’t find a source for this quote, however, it’s one that has been coming up a great deal lately in my life. As children, we may have received an allowance in form of payment for doing our household chores. As adults, allowance is the currency of accountability. Simply saying that we are taking ownership of something, and not backing it up with the necessary action is meaningless.

The character Wimpy from Popeye cartoons had a famous saying, “I’ll gladly repay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” For this to become a famous saying means that it was not a one-time scenario. This was said regularly. If we are all too familiar with such scenarios in our lives, the failure goes to the ones that tolerated the allowance, not the person(s) that have adapted to the conditions we poorly set. Accountability cannot be an expectation; it has to be demonstrated. Accountability is more easily said than done. The demonstration of accountability holds meaning. The trick is navigating it without emotion. The purpose of accountability is not personal. It’s about right action. Right action is not personal – it is simply just doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.