When you Feel Stuck

Planning is important. It gives you direction and confidence to achieve big goals that looked unattainable before. Having a written plan is even better because you can keep going back to it, reminding yourself to stay motivated, and you can see who and what else you need to work with to get you to your goal.

A lot has been said about writing your plan down already. Even when you contact Founders Freedom, one of the first things we will want to find out is whether you have a written plan. So if you are not writing your goals down by now… it is probably not for lack of knowledge.

Today, I want to talk about moving from that written plan to actually following through. Many times, it is more complex than just doing it. Especially when it feels like you are going nowhere and everyone around you is moving so fast and achieving big things.

Some of us believe that by writing, things just fall in place and happen even when we do not intentionally put in the work. But a lack of intentionality means that you will find yourself setting the same goals repeatedly, telling yourself that THIS TIME you will stick to them.

The key to getting out of that cycle is accountability. And you can do that in three ways:

1. By yourself
2. With a person
3. With a group of people

By yourself

When you think of accountability, you probably think of bringing in someone else to check in on whether you have done what you said you will do. But it is also possible to hold yourself accountable. This method works especially if you are the kind of person who is self-aware and honest with yourself.

One of the best ways to hold yourself accountable is through journaling. Dedicate some time at the end of a period- it could be daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly- and write down your progress to see how much you have achieved against your goals.

It helps to have prompts that guide you to think about specific aspects. For example, what wins have you had? What challenges have you faced? Is everything going according to plan? What do you need to start, stop, and continue?

With a person

Founders benefit a lot from having a person walk with them to accomplish their goals. It could be a coach or a mentor. The great thing about this method is that the person you are working with will usually care about both you and your business. So it will feel more personal even while they push you to achieve your goals because you have someone constantly reminding you about them and helping you troubleshoot.

With a group of people

This is a whole other level that you need to be ready for. Here, you get a group of people to be board members. We will assume that your business is registered as a separate entity from you. The thing with boards is that they care about your business and will do whatever is best for it. So your conversations will usually be about how your business is performing. It is not only about you but also about other stakeholders and their needs. There is nothing in this world that will keep you on track with your goals like knowing that you have to go to a group of people and give them a progress update. You will find a way to make things move.

So there it is. That is how to become one of those founders that keeps hitting their goals and making everybody wonder how you do it.

At Founders Freedom, we really care about what happens beyond the planning period. We help founders set up accountability structures so they can keep moving towards their goals. If you are struggling with staying on track or really just want to know more about this, send us a DM or reach out to us at [email protected].

By: Joyce Kayima, ACCA , Founders Freedom