How would life change if you DID achieve that goal you can’t stop thinking about?
No more talk or procrastination, disappointment or regret. Just an epic win to celebrate. Imagine how success would boost your confidence and unlock fresh opportunities. Imagine how you’ll feel knowing you do have what it takes to be successful.
That’s the thing with goals. There’s more at stake than the outcome alone. It’s who you become because of your win. And while science says 92% of people WILL fail, you CAN enjoy the level of success you admire in others - even if past experience says otherwise.
Remember, your past doesn’t have to equal your future.
The people you admire aren’t smarter or more motivated than you. Instead, they make failure impossible by getting the support, which makes success inevitable. This is the power of embedding the right accountability structures in your life.
When you’re held accountable to your commitments and your goals, there’s less wriggle room. In turn, this means there’s less chance of falling short or giving up too soon. What’s more, accountability can also help you tackle some of the challenges that get in the way of you achieving the things you want.
How accountability works
1. Lack of confidence
Thinking big with a desire to achieve more is always going to stretch you. You’re going to have to thrive in discomfort and take on things you’re not sure how to do [even wonder if you can actually do them.] Accountability offers that gentle nudge to step up and do it anyway. Sure, you may not win every time but the more times you put courage over comfort, the more you strengthen that muscle.
The more your confidence grows, the more you can try, explore, and ultimately achieve.
2. You lose sight of your goal
Life is full of distractions and temptations. You may be crystal clear on your goal one day, then find yourself chasing different priorities the next. Accountability can help keep you laser focused on the choices, tasks, and commitments that move the needle in the right direction.
It’s like an airline pilot charting their course. The longer you stray off your path the harder it is to get back on track. Accountability offers those checks that encourage you to question your rationale for exploring distractions.
3. You panic, get overwhelmed, and risk giving up too soon
Totally stuck? Losing the plot? Can’t see the wood through the trees? Life happens and it does throw stuff into the court that can send you into a tailspin. Accountability can help you take stock before you throw in the towel. With accountability, you can regroup and get a fresh perspective on your situation - then keep moving.
When you have support to cut through the overwhelm and replace clarity with chaos, you move the needle towards your goals.
4. You have so much to do, you don’t know where to focus
Struggling to focus on your goals because your to-do list keeps piling up?
When the pressure is on, it’s tempting to switch to fire-fighting mode and tackle the tasks that shout the loudest. Accountability inspires you to not lose sight of your priorities. It keeps you laser focused on what’s most important and helps you manage your time and your calendar to make the most important stuff happen.
When you know where to focus, it’s harder to waste time and bandwidth on tasks that don’t move the needle. In turn, success is easier to create.
5. You need a boost
Let’s be honest, we all have good days and bad! The path to your best self never runs smooth. Instead, there are ups and downs. Loneliness and isolation can be big goal killers - especially if the people around you don’t entirely ‘get’ what you’re doing.
Accountability can offer that motivational support when you need a boost. It can remind you of the bigger picture and spark the knowing that you really have got this.
6. You don’t do the work!
It’s easy to brush things under the carpet and pretend they didn’t happen when nobody's watching. It’s easy to drop the ball, let deadlines slip, and settle for less when you’re in it by yourself.
Accountability doesn’t give you that luxury! Instead, it ensures you can’t fall off your game quite so easily. When you feel called to show up because you’re being held to account, you can go further - faster.
How to stay accountable
Your planner is a powerful tool that can help you stay accountable to yourself.
Take the Self Journal. This planner contains a proven structure that can help you 4x your annual output and even achieve more in 13-weeks than you usually achieve in a year.
The Self Journal keeps you accountable by guiding you to leverage your time - ensuring your minutes are allocated to the tasks and goals that serve you most. You can also use this tool to identify your priorities and ensure you’re always working on the most important things.
You can record your wins to give yourself a motivational boost and also reflect on your performance making it easier to keep the needle moving.
It’s easier to show up as your best self when you have accountability structures in place to support you.
For that goal you absolutely want to achieve, accountability is here to give you the extra nudge to cross the finish line.