How to Hold Yourself Accountable
Accountability is hard, and as time goes on the generations get less and less accountable and more and more entitled, with an immediate gratification type of attitude.
It is not our fault. We have been brought up in school systems, college systems, and work environments that support that. We have been raised to be people who are workers.
We are told what time to start, what time to end and when we can take a break. There's a high degree of compliance and there are direct consequences that are usually immediate.
Being a business owner, oftentimes the worst consequences don't happen all at once.
You can have a business that's crushing it and literally going from that to being crushed by your business.
When you are not accountable to anyone it is so easy to ingrain a bad routine into your life and chances are you're probably not being accountable in other places, and you're probably not bringing your full potential out in other places.
The consequences of not being accountable are ultimately not having the life that you want, not hitting goals, not believing in yourself, and also just living out of integrity with yourself, with others, with your business.
So let's dive into the five things to help you be accountable:
Act like it's a job?
If you treat it like a hobby, you're going to get paid like a hobby and hobbies don't pay really well.?
Before you start work, take a shower, get dressed, comb your hair, do a workout, just focus on yourself for the first hour or two. Make sure you have a start time and an end time.
There should be no difference between you going in and working for somebody else versus you going into your own job and working for yourself. Everybody wants to be their own boss, but they don't want to be their own employee. If you're a business owner, you've got to ask yourself if you were your own employee, would you fire yourself?
Protecting Your Time
There are various challenges and there are multiple distractions.?
Friends and family take advantage of your situation and think just because you are at home, you are available for them at any time. When you are working from home you have to be really intentional.
Your working time is sacred because that's the time that you're there to show up to the world and to make your impact, to do what it is that you set out to do when you first started.??
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Create boundaries
Use a Calendar and a Schedule
By writing down what you're going to be doing throughout the day and scheduling your time, you are setting the intention for the day.?
Don't miss an appointment with yourself. If you have it in your schedule, it's something that you've got to do. Focus on the opportunity versus the obligation.
Be productive not just busy
Being productive is not working on a script a little bit, watching YouTube videos, listening to podcasts, or reading a book. That’s just keeping yourself busy.
Your business is a business, it needs revenue. Don't trick yourself into believing that you’re being productive when in reality, you're just being busy.
It's also about having integrity with yourself. When we’re in integrity with ourselves, we show up better for ourselves, we show up better for other people, and we feel more energized.
Surround yourself with people who will hold you to a higher standard than you hold yourself
It's harder to let yourself slip when there are people around who are crushing it and when there are people around you that are holding you to a higher level.?
See if you can get the people around you to help. If you work by yourself maybe there is someone that lives with you and holds you accountable in some way. Maybe there are networking groups that you can go to.?
Being an entrepreneur is a double-edged sword. You have the freedom to work as much, or as little as you want. And if you only work when you feel like it, then you're probably going to have a pretty terrible-looking bank account and ultimately not make the impact that you’re meant to.
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