I am sitting at my desk Friday morning, creating this blog. And I’m asking myself what have I achieved this week/month. As I know that numbers don’t lie, I can only be accountable (to myself) if I set some targets that can be measured.
This week I had eight meetings with clients, two networking meetings, and two relationship building meetings. The meetings were all planned and required preparation, so achieving those as a goal for the week gets a big tick. Sounds productive, but I know that it my spare slots, I did not use my time wisely.
I found myself doing tasks that I am not good at, and I really should be delegating. And as a result, I didn’t achieve a number of targets I set. Instead, I filled my time with excuses and frustrations.
Do you recognize any of these:
I won’t start this task yet as I don’t have enough time
I took 3 calls whilst in the middle of doing a very important strategy, and I got sidetracked and lost my train of thought
I went to lunch as I needed to clear my head
I know what I needed to do, but just didn’t know where to start
I’m worried about if it will be good enough, so I decided to give it some more thought
It was great talking with you (and more fun) but it means I ran out of time today to do what I had planned
I’m feeling stressed and just can’t get my head in the right place to tackle this
I had 2 people walk into my office and ask me questions
I can’t get my task done as I am waiting on 1 piece of information, so I won’t start until everything is available
Most of us are great at self-sabotage. We find excuses or allow others to distract us. A large part of this is because our targets are vague, or they are not governed by a number.
A number is a date, a time or a unit (e.g number of calls or output from a machine). If you can’t put a number on a target outcome, then there is no accountability. And whilst you may have accepted ownership or responsibility to do something, without accountability to someone (which includes yourself), then what you want to achieve becomes negotiable.
As a Melbourne Business Coach, I help business owners with accountability. I unscramble what’s in your head, we work together to set a timeframe to achieve outcomes, and work through the roadblocks and obstacles that arise along the way. It is a very powerful tool and one that many underestimate.
Accountability really does generate more revenues, lower costs, and make your employees more productive because there is more focus and understanding of the importance of the goal/target.
Whilst accountability may sound onerous and challenging, my clients have seen the benefits of having a Business Coach Melbourne in your corner. Check out some of my testimonials https://www.unlockingyourfuture.com.au/testimonials/
Accountability equates to outcomes, and timeframes and these are based on numbers that don’t lie. So, find a timeslot in your week, be specific about what you want to achieve in the next week or month or 90 days, and write down and then share your numbers with someone who will make you accountable.