Who is Holding you Accountable?
There is a ubiquitous desire within people to want to do more, be more and achieve more. This is ingrained within our DNA as humans. We are born to grow and flourish. This runs across all areas of life and business. Consistent progression in the direction of your goals, or new ideas, is the oxygen of those out there making things happen. So why then are some people making serious strides and others are stuck in a state of stagnation, or decline? Why are some people killing it and others suffering death by a thousand cuts? There are many possible reasons for this, but one that is becoming glaringly obvious to me the more I work with individuals, teams and businesses is that the ones who are being held accountable are flourishing. They have somebody who they check in with on a regular basis to ensure that they are doing what they have committed to doing and by the date they said they would do it by.
This whole area sounds quite simple, but how many of you reading this have someone who is holding you accountable for your progression? Who is asking you the tough questions? Who is going to pick up the phone and check in on you if you haven’t executed on the commitments you have made? In your business it may be your customers and well being frank, if they have to call you, then you won’t have them for long. Delivering on your promises builds trust and well trust builds business. In a world filled with distractions the simplicity of people delivering on what they say they will do, in a timely manner, is now becoming a rarity. It is easy to point the finger of blame outwards and come up with convenient excuses for why you have not done what you said you would. If this relates to our own personal goals we can come up with lies as to why we didn’t. We’re good at that. It’s called self deception.
There is no silver bullet, but one thing I know for certain is finding somebody to hold you accountable will improve your performance, productivity and sense of fulfilment. If you could do this on your own, you would have mastered it by now. Reach out to a friend, co-worker, or find a coach. They must be comfortable with challenging you and calling you out on your bullshit. At times we need to hear things we don’t particularly want to and that is often why keeping family and close friends out of this is advisable. An objective ear and eye can shine a light on things a lot faster and without any fear. Sugar coating things is seldom the ingredient for growth. Somebody who will steadfastly hold you accountable to your commitments every day, week and month however is the foundation upon which you can build just about anything. If you are serious about this then go and find someone today. If you can’t find anybody, I know a guy who lives for this.
Ciao for now – John
Tel; 086 3919952 Mail; john@johnmcnamara.ie