I spoke last week about persistence. That annoying thing that high-achievers do to become successful. They also have a secret weapon to recharges their persistence muscle when it needs a boost.
It’s called
ACCOUNTABILITY
.
Don’t get me wrong… I get it. Accountability is NOT sexy. I doubt many people are searching online right now for more blog posts, or videos about how to become more accountable. But without accountability it will be nearly impossible to achieve your
goals.
So what is Accountability?
Accountability is…
- Having your end-goals and actions to achieve them known by a person or people you trust and value.
- A written commitment to your goals between you and someone else.
- Owning your mistakes – yes, you will make mistakes on your road to achievement. Lots of ’em!
- Having someone that will ask you about your goals and support you in achieving
them.
- Having regular (we suggest weekly) conversations about your progress.
Accountability is not…
- Writing your goals down and then keeping them to yourself. It’s impossible to be accountable if
you’re the only one that knows about them. The biggest reason is that you’ll easily be able to let yourself off the hook at any time, without anyone knowing about it.
- Making excuses for why you’re not able to hit your goals – let’s be honest. It’s going to be impossible to achieve your goals without making mistakes. This doesn’t mean you’ll never slip or fail, but entrepreneurs being held
accountable don’t focus on the excuses. They focus on what they can learn, and what their next step is.
It’s easy to feel motivated at the beginning of a project. But what happens when the challenges start showing up? How do you ‘do the work’ when the motivation has faded?
Typically this is where entrepreneurs turn to their willpower (and caffeine!) to help them power through. But that only goes so far. What makes accountability so powerful is that your goals now have a voice. Someone that you pay attention to and value which contributes to the desire of not wanting to let them down, and fulfilling your word. Committing to do something is like making a promise to a loved one. None of which happens if you keep your goals to
yourself.
How to bring Accountability into your life.
Becoming accountable doesn’t happen by accident. You must be intentional about becoming accountable. This begins by surrounding yourself with likeminded individuals that get you, the mission that you’re on as a
business builder, and will stand by you in your pursuit of business success.
So with that said, you can start today. You do this by identifying the people in your life that can hold you accountable – in turn creating the business advantage you need. Here’s a few ideas to begin:
- A mastermind
group.
- A personal best friend.
- A co-worker
- A coach or mentor.
Don’t make the mistake of asking someone too close to you like a spouse or relative as they rarely
make the best accountability partners.
Sarah and I hold each other accountable for achieving our goals and completing our agreed actions by holding a weekly, one hour, telephone call on Monday mornings. It’s a commitment we make and there’s no getting off the hook if one of us has failed to do something we’d promised.
The most important thing to remember when choosing an accountability partner is that you’re 100% honest with them about what you want to accomplish, share the areas of weakness in your life that will be your biggest obstacles and then remain 100% honest about your progress. It’s not easy, but it sure does fuel that persistence muscle.
To your
success
Noel Guilford