Business
Accountability is more than just a friend that calls you up occasionally to make sure you’re sticking to your weight loss goals. It’s also more than the occasional roundtable discussion with business colleagues checking in how everyone in the group is doing in terms of hitting their quarterly financial goals. True, meaningful accountability serves to prop you up when you feel discouraged, and also propels you to heights you never thought possible. While there are many different types of accountability, both business and personal, these 4 types of accountability are ones you need to place in your life immediately: 1. Character Accountability 2. Time Management Accountability 3. Strategic, Goal-Based Accountability 4. Relationship Accountability Ultimately, accountability is never just a one-time thing that applies to just a single area of life. To find even greater success, you need to be open to being challenged in all areas of your life. We can’t usually see our own blind spots – it takes trusted people in our lives to point them out to us and to provide us the support we need to work through those weak points intentionally. 1. Character Accountability Our character, reputation, and word are the foundation that everything about us is built on. If our work teams can’t trust us to follow through on a promise, or if our clients can’t depend on us to deliver on time, or if our families can’t believe that we will come through for them when they need us, then nothing else really matters. Success in other areas of life is negated if our character isn’t rock-solid. Finding people or a person to hold us to a high standard of integrity in our personal and professional lives is one of the best things we can do to level up how we are currently living life. We all have room for improvement, and it takes others to shine a light on areas we don’t want to see or deal with because we know deep down that it takes a lot of work and discipline to change deeply ingrained character habits. 2. Time Management Accountability How we choose to spend our time can make or break our success. From spending too much time getting lost in social media, to occupying our workdays with excessive meetings instead of focusing on what brings in revenue and makes the most of our skills, time management is a hugely important aspect to prioritize and continually improve. This area of life provides a great opportunity for you to forge relationships with like-minded colleagues that also want to make the most of their productivity and efficiency. Find people you trust and whose work ethics you admire and recruit them to your accountability team, or find an accountability coach. We naturally tend to become like those we spend the most time with, so choose wisely! 3. Strategic, Goal-Based Accountability Entrepreneurs, business owners, freelancers, CEOs – they all have something specific in common: the need to hit achievement-based milestones in order to be considered successful in their jobs or careers. This is why goal setting is an incredibly powerful tool, but it is one that often goes underutilized by high-powered individuals. Setting a measurable, impactful goal is only part of the equation, though. Finding the willpower to take the actionable steps needed to actually achieve that goal is an entirely different thing. It can be emotionally and mentally draining to push forward – often against unforeseen obstacles – especially when doing so alone. Goal-based accountability helps prop you up when you feel discouraged, and reminds you why you set your goal in the first place. Whether you need to hit a financial or marketing target, an accountability partner or coach can help get you and keep you on track for the long haul. 4. Relationship Accountability Sometimes it is good to be reminded of what is most important. It can be easy to lose sight of what matters most when everything else is screaming louder for our attention. Your relationships are what