A number of things have converged in my life in the past year or so that have led me to work on my self-discipline:

• Firstly, reading Every Man's Battle convinced me that:
  • my self-discipline was severely lacking, and
  • it was actually both possible and desirable to have it!
• This semester at college i've been working time management in my field work, and i went through the scary experience of writing down everything i did with my time over a period of several weeks, then evaluating it to see what i could have done better. (It was a lot!)
• At the neoLeader retreat, Ben Naitoko talked to us about 10 critical disciplines for every Christian leader: time alone with God, serving in the Church, our speech, diet and exercise, rest, celebration, moral integrity, finances, family, and personal development. I realised i was a bit ordinary at several of these and was motivated to do something about it.
• And just yesterday, John Sweetman started a new series at neoLeader on living intentionally.

These and other factors have combined to get me thinking about self-accountability.  That is, asking things of myself and checking up on myself to see how i'm going with them.  This could take different forms for different people.  Some people recommend 30-day trials to help you break an old habit or start a new one, so i thought i would try that.  I made up a chart for this month which lists the activities for which i want to be accountable to myself (I'm especially working on diet & exercise, rest, and time alone with God).  I've been recording my progress each day, and at the end of the month, i'll be able to see where i've improved and where i need more work.

Self-accountability is important because it is the basis of all other accountability.  If we don't start by being honest with ourselves, how can we be honest about our failures to others?  There may be times in your life when you will not be able to have an accountability partner for whatever reason (e.g. work schedules, time pressure, or lack of appropriate partners), so being disciplined in reporting to yourself is a good fallback.

Self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (the inevitable results of having the Holy Spirit in our lives - see Gal 6:16-26), it is one of the biblical requirements of Christian leaders (1 Tim 3:2), and the lack of it is a sure way to invite Satan to tempt us (1 Cor 7:5).  I want it, because i want everything good that God has planned for me (Eph 2:10).  And if anyone would like to be my accountability partner in implementing self-accountability, please let me know!