Accountability.
We hear about it. We read about it.

What is accountability, really what is it?

Accountability. Is a willingness to account for one’s actions. The act of being accountable.

When I’m accountable I’m responsible for actions I’ve committed to; I’m owning my stuff.

I can choose to be accountable to someone else.
For some of us, we don’t have a choice about this, we are accountable to our boss, our manager, our supervisor, our whatever, like it or not.

Here I’m talking to us entrepreneurs. If that’s you, keep on reading, you’re in the right place!

As an entrepreneur, I can give myself permission to choose to be accountable to another party who lovingly holds me accountable to complete the actions I’ve chosen.

That’s the sort of accountability we hear and read about online. That’s what I’m talking about here.

For us in business, accountability can be a life and death matter!

I remember feeling alone, although I was run off my feet.
Going round and round in circles.
Like a headless chook.
Like the hamster on the wheel.
Truth was I was probably busy being busy.
Busy doing … something, anything, just busy doing. Not necessarily doing what mattered most.
I wasn’t accountable to anyone.
No one had my back.
No one was holding my feet to the fire.

Accountability buddies – the truth!

What I’m noticing online is that many entrepreneurs are seeking out accountability buddies in groups. Looking to hook up with someone who will provide that magic pill.
People they may or may not know already.
Appears a bit like online dating.
It’s all gonna be in the luck of the draw as to whether it works. And if it does, for how long it works.

Somehow we’ve gotten the belief that accountability is easy. That we can get it for free.

What I’ve noticed, for myself and others, is that this is not a long-term fix.
Yes, it can work beautifully under certain circumstances.
When you and your buddy are working on a similar project.
When you and your buddy have a similar deadline to meet.
When you both really understand something intimately.

And that’s all assuming you want the same thing from accountability.
The same regularity and amount of contact. Similar time of the day. Similar time of the week.

It doesn’t even begin to cover whether you share the same values or work ethics. Whether you trust each other.
And so on and so on.

When we’re looking to get something for free there are many aspects at play in the relationship.
You’re both looking to get from this relationship. Someone to hold us accountable in the way we need realizing that what we’ve committed to is doing that or them as well, almost as payment for their providing that for us. Yes, it’s a form of bartering, which of course is a whole different story that I’m not going to touch on today.

After a while, in various ways, enthusiasm wanes. From my observations and experience, there are as many reasons for this as there are people. Can be because the project is complete. The deadline has been met. You may now be working on stuff that the other person doesn’t understand as well as you do.
Remember they’re looking to get from this relationship as much as you are and so putting the time into understanding what you need and why you’re not meeting your goals is not always something that’s possible.

Flip side to that, turning all that on it’s head!

What I’ve found works profoundly well for me and for many others is that when you commit to accountability.
When you commit to being held accountable.
When you commit to letting someone else hold your feet to the fire, knowing that they’ve also got your back, knowing that they care as much as you do about what it is that you’re wanting to accomplish.

For that to be optimally valuable for you the truth is …

YOU NEED TO HAVE SKIN IN THE GAME.

In other words, when I’m prepared to say to somebody

“hold me accountable, keep my feet to the fire, get me doing what I say I’m gonna do”,

knowing they’ve got my back, that they’re there for me when I need support. For that to be profoundly valuable for me I need to have skin in the game.

I need to put money on the table.

I need to pay someone to provide that service for me.

That’s a significant part of my taking responsibility for my own accountability.

When we have an accountability buddy we’re responsible for providing that service to somebody else and that somebody else is responsible for providing that service to us. That gets messy, believe me. Not messy in a conflict sort of way necessarily, messy in a “well that didn’t work, so I must have done something wrong” kind of way. That’s not serving you. That’s not serving them either.

When we put skin in the game. When we put money on the table.
When we say yes, I want to be held accountable and I’m responsible for that myself and I need help with that.
That’s when the magic happens.

Resistance to Results is where we’ve got your back and we lovingly hold your feet to the fire so you can break through your resistance to achieve your dream results.

Are you ready to receive the support you deserve so you can achieve your goals without feeling drained or alone?

See you there
xx
Daphne

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