Six Personal Perspectives Step Six: Be Accountable

On our path to mastering the six personal perspectives of a millionaire real estate agent, today we’re going to talk briefly about Step Six: Be Accountable.

It’s remarkable to me how many people are completely adverse to the word Accountability, and I think it’s because most people associate the word Accountability with the word Consequences, and the word Consequences is associated with the word Punishment. Accountability might be correlated with Consequences and therefore might be correlated with Punishment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Accountability causes Punishment.

Let me explain…

WHAT IS ACCOUNTABILITY?

To be accountable means to be responsible for one’s actions and decisions, and to be willing to explain them to others. It involves taking ownership of the outcomes of your actions, whether they are positive or negative, and being transparent about the processes and reasons behind those actions. Accountability often implies a duty to report, justify, and be answerable for the consequences of what you do. This concept is crucial in various contexts, including personal relationships, workplaces, and governance, as it fosters trust, integrity, and effective functioning within those systems.

You’re subject to consequences when you don’t succeed regardless, so adding a layer of accountability actually helps you avoid those consequences. Accountability is a gift because it helps you stay focused on what’s most important to you. Have you ever tried to do something monumental? Have you ever trained for a marathon, quit smoking, learned a new skill or even just replaced a toilet? Consider what those experiences would have been like or if they would have ever even happened if you didn’t tell at least one other person what you wanted to do. Folks t is SO EASY to let ourselves off the hook if we know nobody is watching. So don’t let yourself off the hook. Make it so that people are watching. THEN watch the magic happen.

So who are you accountable to? Do you have a partner in business or in your personal life? Are you accountable to your health? Your children? Your pets? Your parents? Yourself?

YOUR ACCOUNTABILITY CIRCLE

If you aren’t already in a circle of accountability, please consider creating or joining one. Set weekly, monthly, and annual goals and meet with your circle every week to discuss your progress and push each other forward. Set goals for your business and set goals for your personal life. Remember that you have to uphold your personal goals and maintain your commitments in your personal life no matter what. Family first. Even if you’re crushing it in business, it’s pointless if your personal goals aren’t being met.

At your weekly review, take turns updating your last week’s goals. Did you hit them? Why/why not? DO NOT STOP THERE. This is where the magic happens and where accountability is so powerful. If you hit your goal, you need to identify HOW you hit that goal because that’s the secret sauce, my friend! That’s what you need to replicate so that you can hit it again. And again. And again. If you didn’t hit your goal… well, that’s another story. You need to weigh it against the feedback triangle and figure out what happened. Maybe you overcommitted that week. Maybe you didn’t put it on your schedule. Maybe that goal was dependent on other people or tools that you couldn’t control. MAYBE it wasn’t as important to you to accomplish as you thought it would be. Take turns evaluating the what and the how and then go back around the circle and state your intentions for the following week.

CRITICAL TIPS FOR SETTING WEEKLY GOALS
1. The goal needs to be SMART: SPECIFIC, MEASUREABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT, AND TIME-BOUND. It cannot be dependent on anything else but you. If it requires you to get something so you can do something, that’s not a smart goal. If it’s dependent on another person (ie going on an appointment), it’s not a smart goal. If it’s more of the same goal you’ve never hit before (ie knocking on 100 doors when you failed to hit 50 the last three weeks in a row), it’s not a smart goal.

2. The goal needs to be something that feeds into your monthly and ultimately into your annual goals. If it doesn’t serve a purpose toward your long-term vision, you might find yourself creating a to-do list instead of a blueprint of action items. Deconstruct your biggest goals and break those bad boys down into meaningful chunks. You’ll thank me later for this one.

3. You HAVE to look ahead in your calendar before making any commitment to anybody, so schedule an appointment with yourself to complete your action items. If you don’t make time for it, you’ll likely either forget to do it or find yourself scrambling an hour before your weekly meeting- neither of which you’ll love.

Accountability is absolutely associated with consequences, just not in the terms you might think it does.
Get real with yourself and get right with your goals. I believe in you and I know you can do it.

All my love and encouragement,

Coach Lins