There’s been some talk on the forums, of late, about accountability. It started with Alex Jeffreys posting that we should all be posting our plans etc. as he feels doing so will greatly add to one’s success. We also saw a post referring to Alex Jeffreys having an accountability partner and suggesting we use the forums to find our own partners. Great tools and ideas, especially when you see posts like those from Matthew Wolfe who posts his journal in great detail and I’m sure is a great benefit to the other students. Posting personal journals, however, isn’t for everyone and I don’t think people should feel obliged to do so. The main issue here, I feel, is ACCOUNTABILITY and how one goes about it. If you want to succeed you need to be accountable to yourself both in your personal life and in your business. It can be hard in any business but considerably more in anything related to the Internet as there’s so many distractions. We’ve all succumbed to working away on something and then… WHAM, SHINIES!! …and off we go on some tangent and work flies out the window. If we don’t hold ourselves accountable the shinies will win everytime.
As mentioned, posting journals and having partners are great tools but they don’t mean squat if you can’t hold yourself accountable. They are aids only, accountability is only achieved through one’s own efforts. While posting journals may not be the way to go for all people everyone should be religiously keeping a journal. I can’t think of a better way then looking at your short term to-do list and your did list to account for what you’ve achieved over time. If you go back a week and most of your to-do list is still there you have problems. If it stills mostly there after a month you’d best have a long look at yourself in the mirror. This, of course, is where planning plays such a critical part. I’ve always planned but not to the degree suggested in the course and I can see where it would have helped. My planning was with a pretty broad brush and could have used a lot more finesse. I have a long ways to go in learning how to plan properly but have already seen improvements in my habits and most of all for accounting to myself. I’ve always kept track of my activities in a notepad scribbler and have found it to be invaluable. It’s all there for you to refer back on things and to check on your progress. Also, you’re not loosing or throwing out sheets like you might do with individual ones and you can’t walk away from being accountable. It’s all there for you to see, what you did and what you didn’t do. That’s been my biggest asset.
I’m in no way trying to downplay what having a partner can do for you and/or what posting your journal may achieve but I feel accountability has to start within yourself.
“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable” Moliere
Good post – I think I’ll come back to this and read it again to remind myself next time i go off tangent!
Regards
pete
I use the slogan
“I am accountable”
My grandmother taught me counting when I was 2 months old. That time I had not learned to speak even. She taught me numbers from 1 to ten only.When I grew she taught me to count my toys before and after I took them out for playing. Was she not my partner? I am new to this site. Can you become my partner.
Hi Rod
I completely agree. You have to hold yourself accountable or you will not get anywhere! I think there are many tricks you can play on yourself, like having partners which play on the competitive side human nature, but ultimately it’s down to you as a person.
“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable”
This is going on my wall with my other inspitational quotes!
Great post!
David Chamberlain
Hi Rod,
David here from Alex Jeffreys coaching program.
Having worked for myself for the last three years it’s great not having a boss but you need to realise you ARE the boss and thus need to be accountable to yourself! I have been guilty of NOT doing this in the past and the coaching has really made me think differently.
Our blogs are a great way of keeping ourselves accountable and open to scrutiny from the outside world – long may it continue!
Keep in touch.
David
Hi Rod,
I’m on the Alex Jeffreys coaching program with you.
I’ve got to say that this post on accountability is right on the money. It was only after Alex spelt it out in the first module that I realised that I’d been so easily distracted, without focus and without planning.
The theme and graphics are great. Who did the graphics?
Cheers,
Andrew.
andrew vaughan´s last blog ..Always Remember – The List Is KING!
Thanks, Andrew. Joe Fier from the class did the header. Module one was also a wake-up call for me. It was the jump start I needed. I still need to work on the planning more but it’s getting better as I move along.
David, what you say is so true. I’ve worked for myself in my trade as an electrician but it didn’t have as many distractions. Being more hands-on may have helped, not sure.
Hi Rod, Just popped in to say Hi and have a look at your new cool website. Joe Fier is doing my logo as well now, and I think it looks great.
Well done Rod and congratulations.
Regards
Mike
Thanks, Mike
. I’m sure you’ll like your new header. Joe does awesome work.