Amazingly, we are at the midpoint of the first quarter of the calendar year. How are you doing on the goals you set for yourself? Are you seeing great progress? Or, maybe you’re frustrated, feeling as though your progress has stalled. Worse yet, perhaps you’ve already started saying to yourself, ‘maybe next year.’ Before you give up, let’s talk about two simple moves that could get you back on track. Those moves? Having a clear vision and creating an accountability system.
A Vivid Vision — Significant research has been done on the impact of visualizing success. This concept has been used in sports, with musicians, and more. One common workplace example is preparing for a presentation. The idea is to get as clear an image as possible. In this case, you would imagine what you would be wearing. You’d picture the venue — how the seats are arranged, the lighting, even the way the stage is set up. You’d see yourself listening to the moderator introduce you, your ascent to the stage, your movement around the stage as you deliver your presentation. You’ll feel the anticipation as you start, your heart rate start to slow down as you get rolling, and your joy as you engage with the audience.
The more that you can put yourself in the scene and experience the details of it, the better the results. Repeating this practice begins to create muscle memory in your mind. Your mind isn’t able to tell the difference between your imagination and reality. So, it believes that the story you are showing it is true and acts accordingly.
Step one — imagine the scene going the way you want it to go, but imagining alone is not enough. You’ve got to thoroughly prepare. This is where an accountability system is beneficial.
An Accountability System — There are a few pieces to an accountability system. First, it is understanding each of the component parts you will need to complete in order to be ready. In continuing with the example above, this might include gathering details from the event organizer to understand the topic you are being asked to speak about, how long they would like you to speak for, the format of the talk (e.g. a keynote versus a workshop), and information about the audience. Armed with this information, you’ll turn your attention to crafting a plan to create the presentation. This might include researching, writing your notes, designing your slides, and rehearsing. The next step is to block time on your calendar to get these things done. You now know what you’ll do and when you’ll do it.
The final piece of the puzzle is who. Whose help do you need? Perhaps you need someone to help you with the research. Maybe you need someone to pull together the slides. You may want to work with a coach to help you practice and prepare. You’ll need to negotiate with them to ensure they are able to do what you need them to do when you need them to do it.
This accountability system — knowing what you are going to do, when you are going to do it, and who is going to help you, can help to keep you on time and task. You can think about this as the three-legged stool (or the three s’s) of accountability: self-accountability, system/process accountability, and supporter accountability.
If you are struggling to maintain momentum toward your goals, don’t despair. Instead, take some time to create a clear, compelling vision — one you can actually see yourself in, and then design and implement an accountability system that helps you stay the course.
