Wednesday 26 November 2008

Who Holds You Accountable?

I signed up for a personal coaching program last year. The guarantee is that if after a year I haven't achieved my goal, they'll continue to work with me until I achieve my goal. With a guarantee like that, how can I resist?

It has been a year now. Have I achieved my goal? I've been making steady progress, but I'm not quite there yet.

I took time to stop and reflect on what I've achieved in the past year. What I noticed is that I'm more likely to make progress if I have someone holding me accountable. For example, if I tell you that I'm going to submit a press release by next week, and I know that next week you're going to ask me if I've done it, I'd definitely make sure I've done it before I see you the following week.

Having someone hold me accountable helps move me forward. So every week, I send an email to the resource line and let them know happens in the past week, and what I would like to be accountable for in the next week. I must say, people at the resource line are incredibly supportive.

So my question to you is: Who holds you accountable? If your answer is no one, I'd suggest you find someone supportive - a friend, a spouse, a sibling, a business partner - who would hold you to a high standard and cheer you on while you work on achieving your goals.

To me, that has been priceless in propelling me forward.