Accountability
What is Accountability, and Who Holds You Accountable?
Accountability is defined as:
- "an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions"
- doing what you said you would do
- completing what you said you would perform punctually as expected
One thing I’ve found while coaching others is that most high performers desire to be held accountable by a third party. Unfortunately, very few high-aiming folks have anybody to act in that critical role.
We all have goals, objectives, and tasks that we know are important, but many times we get sidetracked with busy work – working in the business vs. on the business. Details fall by the wayside, and we think to ourselves, “I will get back to that when I have the time.” However, most of us do a poor job at holding ourselves accountable, if we even do so at all. We find all sorts of excuses and employ denial and delusion.
What can be done about this?
Understand Your Why
Why is what you are doing important to you? Write this down and share it with your accountability coach.
Remember “The End In Sight”
Recall the benefits that you will bring yourself and others if you do a good job at staying accountable.
Maintain a Daily Task List
Sort your task list in order or priority each day, throughout the day, even as new things crop up. Tools such as Microsoft Excel are great for this purpose; I have a template that I use myself and share with all clients.
Get an “Accountability Buddy”
Other than your professional life coach, have one or more persons in your life who will tell it to you like it is. This can be a friend, family member, or professional, but the caveat is that it needs to be someone who wants to see you succeed. Schedule a regular time each week on a set day so that they can check-in and help keep you accountable. Set this as an important meeting on your own calendars.
This is the sort of discipline that, when followed regularly, will evolve into a series of habits that provide you with continuously-improving results. Regain you peace of mind by knowing that things are getting done on-schedule, as-planned. After all, without peace of mind, what do we have at the end of the day? It’s my personal goal to see that my clients achieve this mental comfort and more throughout their time working with me.
Ready to get started?
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