What is it with the generation I grew up in that lack the accountability?  I feel as though I was blessed to be surrounded by a family that instilled hard work.  I was very fortunate and have a family that many would call successful.  Many people think that my personal success is from having grown up in the situation I did, which in ways it has. This blog post is to explain a bit of why I think growing up with a father who forced accountability on me to be one of the bigger growth factors.

In business and specifically entrepreneurship you wear the hat of all the roles. So how does one make sure they find the most success? What I do is target a goal and try my best to get there. It could be as simple as block off an hour to work on a specific project or a sales goal for the month.  From there it is up to myself and the people around me to reach that goal!

What you quickly realize is you cannot do everything on your own.  As much as you want to be hands on in every situation you are doing more damage than good.  You have to delegate roles to those around you.  This is where accountability comes in! You must be clear with those who you give roles to or those that volunteer to do those roles.  Once you have set the job or task there should be a conversation about what is expected out of them. Once they know what is expected out of them it should be very clear on a timetable on when it should be completed.

This is where stuff starts to get a bit crazy in my opinion.  I am not sure if it’s the fact that people of our generation have been shielded or that cancel culture is so rampant now a days, but people HATE criticism.  Be the opposite end of that spectrum; thrive on the criticism and am my biggest critic.  If you want to grow you have to be able to learn from your failed attempts and be able to openly listen to those who are being critical of you.  From an early age I was told if I signed up for something, I had to see it through until completion! Even if I hated it! 

That ONE THING is what molded me to be who I am today! It also molded my expectations of others.  In life there is always someone out there who has it better or worse.  You are in control of one thing your entire life and that is YOU! Be the person you SAY you are going to be to others and yourself. When you do not keep your word, you should be held accountable, there should be words spoken, and you should be able to handle those words.  If you have excuses or hide behind something in defense you are hurting yourself even more in the process.  Believe it or not everyone has tons of shit going on in their life.  You should have been aware of this before you signed up for your task!  THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO CAN REPLACE SOMEONE! 

How do I think people can improve this poor trait that culture has instilled in us? Be self-aware.  We have done a podcast on this as well which you can listen to HERE! I find it mind blowing the number of individuals that lack the self-awareness.  Every week you should audit yourself and be able to see what can be improved on! BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF! Lying about a result doesn’t change anything! There is often talk of Auditing your Circle which we have also done a podcast on HERE!  To me with accountability you should AUDIT YOUR CIRCLE when those around you are not providing what they say they are going to do.

REMEMBER YOUR WORDS ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR ACTIONS! Go out there and be the best person you can be! 

HERE IS A SIMPLE METHOD YOU CAN FOLLOW:

S = Set Expectations

I = Invite Commitment

M = Measure Progress

P = Provide Feedback

L = Link Consequences

E = Evaluate Expectations

Thanks for listening to my rant,

Brad