Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

Lesson 1 - Accountability

How to become Accountable. Becoming accountable is the first step I have found you must take if you want to succeed at something. Making sure that you realize you are responsible for your actions will make you inherently want to better them. Take for instance working on a project at school or at work. When things are going right everyone wants to have a piece of the action. If your school project is on the right track you’ll tend to hear “Remember when I…” a lot. However if its headed in the dumper you’ll tend to hear “Remember when [insert name other than person saying this]…” The reason for this is no big secret and you can probably figure it out on your own.

We were born to succeed because if we didn’t we would die. At least this was true before civilizations came around. However the point remains the same. Most people want to be good at something eventhough a large majority won’t stick their necks out on the line to do it.

At work I tend to be a bit overkill in this arena and will take responsibility for others actions, even if I had only the tiny tiniest part in whatever happened. The reason for this is that I don’t think sitting around waiting for blame to be dealt is a good use of time. Realize what went wrong then figure out a solution. (Now I don’t mean to say that if anything goes wrong I am first to step up, even I know you must choose your battles wisely.)

How this applies to goal setting and accomplishment - If you become accountable for your goals it means someone else knows about them. I read a very good book about marketing and a huge portion was on letting people know your ideas and know your goals. The author says you should shout your goals and ideas from the rooftops, let everyone know. Most of the time people will over look what you say and carry on with what they are doing, but getting those few people to realize what your ideas are or what your goals are can be all the motivation you need to succeed. He mentions championing your ideas to succeed in business, I say champion whatever it is you are doing, and people will help you succeed in life.

The book I am referring to actually comes as two and both refer to this method. They are called Free Prize Inside and Purple Cow. Although they aren’t really goal setting oriented books, if you are at all interested in starting a business or marketing your ideas to higher ups at work, get these books. They will become invaluable as you start your career.

Now accountability can take on many forms. I am stating my goals and making myself accountable for completing them on this website. You may say the only thing I stand to inccur by not completing these goals is humiliation. This couldn’t be closer to the truth. However, I feel that this can be all the motivation someone needs if used correctly and hope to show you why. First thing is one must realize that you can become good at becoming accountable. If you just throw out goals and build yourself up only to laugh off when you don’t follow through, people may find you amusing. But it is in no way aiding you to accomplish anything. You must be sincere when becoming accountable.

By saying you are doing something and being sincere about it, others will pick up on it and try and help you reach your goals. Take for example my goal of running the 4 minute mile. I have become acustomed over the last year to starting to run for about 3 days within a weeks span. Only to not run for the next 3 to 4 weeks. Rinse. Repeat. The reasons for this are vast and probably to numerous to mention. But keeping with the theme of the example, sometimes it is because rather than going running I will stay out too late with friends, or consume too much fun juice and be too wiped out to do anything the next day. However, if I were to tell these friends over and over my goals, they would want me to get up the next morning to run, or not stay out as late so I can run. They will become part of the goal themselves and feel success when you accomplish it.

Why do you think there are sports fans?