Accountability is powerful stuff
Blogging is a new habit for me which means it isn’t second nature. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for a while, but I never got going. After all, it’s easy to say you want to do something, but harder to make sure that it actually happens. So, I instituted a new accountability measure to help me achieve my goal: tell my husband each time I complete a post.
In order to complete a task, some people need only be accountable to themselves. They’ll let themselves down if they don’t do what they say they’re going to do and that’s enough to make sure that it happens. Other people are like me - they’ll choose to institute an accountability measure to ensure that they follow through on an action.
Accountability is about owning the experience and following through on what you set out to achieve. You’ll make something happen, rather than wait for it to happen. You’ll take something that you might be doing occasionally (or not at all) and make it second nature. You’ll identify a goal and give it value, taking ownership of your success in a real and tangible way.
That’s powerful stuff.
Coaching, among many other things, is about breaking habits that no longer serve you. Waiting to blog - and not telling anyone about it - wasn’t serving me anymore. But I couldn’t just make the decision to start blogging without taking the very important step of giving myself a sustainable structure within which to work and achieve my goal.
When considering accountability measures, make sure that, like the action, they are specific. For me, it was looping someone else in to what I was trying to accomplish. For one colleague, creating a chart that she could mark every day worked, while another colleague created a daily reminder list on his phone.
What I’ve shared above are just a few examples to consider. The beauty of designing accountability measures is that they’re specific to you. You know yourself best, so be creative and see how empowered you feel.