Episode 124: Five ways to harness the power of accountability (if that’s your jam)

00:52 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast. You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes. Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started! Have you ever had an idea that sat on your list for ages? An idea you hadn't really mentioned to anyone and kept putting off

01:37 So for a lot of people, when an idea exists only in your head you have no reason to do it right beyond it being a great idea. There is always something more important or urgent to be done and so that idea however brilliant never makes it to the top of the list now this isn't true for everyone so do go to episode 105 of Unfrazzled to find out why I'll pop a link to that in the show notes But when you get some accountability, the idea that you're holding on to in your head shifts from being just another good idea. To something that you've committed to in front of another human being so if you don't follow through someone else will know about it And being viewed as a sort of person who doesn't do what they say they'll do, for a lot of us that is not an option. So how do you know if that kind of accountability could help you? As I've said, accountability doesn't work for everyone but for those of us who are great at meeting external expectations but no so great if we have nobody to answer it can work a treat

02:31 So if you're an obliger in Gretchen Rubin's four tendencies framework, accountability is a strategy that can work really well for you. And again go listen to episode 105 for more on that head to the show notes for the link but to get an inkling of whether this is a good approach for you just see if you recognize yourself in any of the following statements I don't like letting people down it bothers me if someone else sees that I haven't followed through with a commitment I work better under pressure I sometimes find it hard to get motivated I need a deadline otherwise it won't get done. So if you recognize yourself in any of that and you're fed up with not making the progress that you want to make, maybe it is time for you to introduce some accountability into your life and there are so many ways to go about this and they don't all work for everybody! It's worth experimenting to find an approach that will work for you. I'm going to share five ways that you could harness the productivity enhancing power of accountability if that is a strategy that is a good fit for you and your personality

03:30 So, first idea which is probably the most obvious one. Get an accountability buddy! Find someone else who's looking for accountability and agree to keep tabs on each other It could be that a weekly call is enough for you to keep each other on track or maybe you'd prefer to keep in touch via email or whatsapp at the end of every day Agree on a format that works for you Start sharing your intentions And see what happens So the second idea you could play with is around forfeits. So, you could have some fun finding a forfeit that would motivate you to get things done. For instance, you could commit to cleaning your partner's car or allowing your best friend to set you up with a blind date if you don't do the thing that you said you would do. Or how's this for an idea? I've taken this one from one of Gretchen Rubin's books

04:17 She gave the example of a mother telling her son that if he didn't see her exercising every day, then he didn't have to do his homework. And another creative idea from Gretchen's book is to give someone a check made out to an organization you're absolutely opposed to and if you don't do the thing you said you'd do they get to post the check! That one's a bit scary to me but it's worth thinking about...you know? You can have some fun with this stuff And the third idea for you is to make a public declaration. So take to the airwaves and tell everyone what you're going to achieve, whether that's today this week this month. Now many years ago I had a Facebook group that encouraged people to do that i don't do that anymore but do you have any spaces that you're already a part of where that might work for you? Where they perhaps encourage that kind of thing or maybe you could hop onto LinkedIn and just tell everyone what you're working on

05:06 And this idea of making a public declaration is actually closely connected to the fourth way that you can harness accountability and that is to tell your audience what you're working on. So, this is slightly different than the making a public declaration thing because it's specifically about something in your business If you've been wanting to create something in your business but never seem to get around it, tell your audience that you're working on it. This can also create a bit of buzz amongst followers and help them see an appetite for what they are doing So this might look like asking people to sign up to a waiting list for something that doesn't exist yet, or telling the people in your paid membership that you'll have some new content ready for them by a certain date so that you know they're expecting it.

05:54 Or if you're feeling really brave, you could start selling something new before it even exists. I've done that myself a few times and it's worked really well Now if you're going to do that one, you need to be clear from the start about what is your selling and how would benefit people but actually that's a really good starting place when creating something new anyway so have a think about whether that might work for you And then the fifth idea I have for you is to work with a coach or mentor. So this is a very powerful way of getting some accountability as well as getting expert kind of bespoke advice and guidance Around developing your business or tackling an area of kind of professional development, personal development whatever that might be. This one comes with an added motivator and added driver because usually you will have invested money into that coach or mentor so you're going to want to get as much value as you can from your time working together. And financial motivation plus accountability to another human being who has your best interests at heart

06:51 That's a bit of a double whammy that can work really well and this is where Make It Happen Club works really well, right? There's an investment involved in that for people to show up every month and do their planning. And because people are spending money on it they are so much more likely to show up! So when you run your own business there is often nobody to answer to but yourself...and obviously your clients but my guess is that you have no problem doing the things you need to do for your clients Getting some external accountability, whether that's from a friend, a business buddy, a mentor or your wider community. That can really light a fire under you so do you need some accountability to make the progress you'd like to make in your business? And which of these ideas appeals to you the most if you have a friend who would make a great accountability buddy or you think they need to hear this please do share this episode with them and as always I hope that this helps and i look forward to seeing you again soon

07:41 Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast! If you would like to hear more from me to help stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find the link to join my mailing list in the show notes and I would really love for you to join us. So thanks so much for your support and I look forward to seeing you next time