How is your week? Did you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Did you do something you love with someone you love? I worked out with one of my nephews – I love being active and I love spending time with family – it was a perfect Valentine’s activity.
As we were working out, I started reflecting on how this came to be, as my nephew, Evan, does not enjoy working out. He would much prefer to watch Netflix and play video games, yet for over a year now, we’ve been working out together almost every week. I wanted to share my thoughts with you on this as they relate to work and life.
First and foremost, there is power in personal accountability. When I show up to work out with my nephew, he doesn’t try to get out of it or make excuses why he can’t do it, he puts on his gear and we head out the door. He may not WANT to do it necessarily, but having me there ready and waiting, there’s no other option but to do it. Then, when we get out the door, we break our workout into segments. We do a circuit at three different parks, running between each. Each leg of the run also gets broken down. We run towards a specific landmark. We usually end up running faster when we do this vs. if we had said let’s run for five minutes.
The lesson? When you make it accessible, it is easier to start. Along the way, when you choose points along the route as goals (i.e., the green sign) you actually perform better than if you say let’s run for a mile. It’s visually approaching the goal vs. being unaware of how many seconds or minutes towards your mile have passed that makes it easier to keep going. You know exactly where you are headed and you know when you have arrived and achieved your goal.
So how can we apply this to life?
When you are working on a big project or desire to achieve a certain level of success in your career or business, or in your fitness or finances, give yourself guideposts (the more visual, the better). When I complete this section, I’ll grab a cup of coffee. After I make that phone call, I’ll take a short walk.
Set up an accountability system. Ask a friend or colleague to be your accountability partner for a specific project. You can offer to support them in sticking to a certain goal in return.
Hire a coach. This has been, in my experience, the most powerful way to move forward. Investing in yourself and your personal and professional development signals to yourself and the universe that you mean business. Working with a coach gives you not only have high-level accountability and expert support, you also have a constant guide, helping you break down your vision into a clear strategy. The strategy is then broken down into small actionable items with a clear measurable outcome attached. The beauty of working with a coach as your mentor is you have someone to check in with as you make progress and come up against obstacles, so you are constantly refining your process to make it more effective and efficient. The growth obtained from working with a coach, not only in your business, but also personally, is incredible.
If you’ve struggling moving your business forward or transitioning into a new business, let’s talk. We can jump on the phone or Skype for a quick 10-minute call to see what it would look like to work together and look into what areas you want to grow your business and move to the next level both professionally and personally.
So what’s the moral of the story? Keep your sights on the next landmark, keep moving forward, one step at a time, and don’t do it alone.
Rooting for you.
Kori
P.S. Schedule your Business Breakthrough Session here. I look forward to connecting with you!