For many of you, unfortunately, accountability means be screamed at or shamed. Fear is a terrible motivator long term. We can’t stay at that ready state forever. We also aren’t at our best in a negative state.
In the book “Whale Done,” the author was a Sea World and got a chance to ask the trainers how they got these huge orcas to do their tasks. He figured it was food but it was actually attention. They said connecting the tasks to food meant they wouldn’t be motivated if they weren’t hungry.
When the pressure of hunger or fear leaves, we lose motivation. It becomes wholly external. True motivation is internal. That’s was the Mighty Script does, it strengthens internal motivation.
Ford Taylor talks about taking over the coaching of his daughter’s high school volleyball team. They weren’t great but he got them to perform by connecting with them. He started his coaching sessions by checking in on everyone. If they had outside problems that were top of mind, they weren’t going to perform.
He would tell them during games, “Just get a few points back to back. Then their coach will start yelling and those players will be thinking about all of the other things in their life.” And it worked. They went from the bottom to losing in the playoffs to the eventual state champions. And Ford wasn’t always this calm. He was a hothead in his youth that would yell at refs but over time he realized that wasn’t the right way.
I hope this illustrates you don’t need some yelling at you and you don’t need to be yelling at yourself.
Accountability is just someone you talk to who will check-in. “Did you do the thing you planned to do?” It’s a yes or no. They may ask, “Did you lack resources to do it?” This is an honest question to get to whether it was effort or something external.
You might have noticed that you will do much more for other people than you will for yourself. That’s what accountability triggers for some people. For others, it might just be the reminder of the thing you wanted to do.
Exercise: Find an accountability partner. They don’t need to be in real estate or even that closely connected to you. Just someone you report to with a certain set of goals. A buddy did this to me without me knowing. He would update me on his health journey. I thought he was just chatting with me but for him, it was part of his accountability. He lost 50 pounds.
Do the work, get the results.
Next lesson >> Decision Fatigue