Why You Need Accountability And Routine

Why do you feel anxious when you’ve got nothing to do? Why might you get down on yourself when you didn’t get much done in a day? Why do you become frustrated or check out for the day when you don’t have energy? There's a missing ingredient to all these problems…ACCOUNTABILITY. Think, for example, why the weekend is so great but Monday morning is difficult. It’s simple; you have no deadlines, assignments, meetings or commutes to make on Saturday or Sunday. Those days are at your disposal. 

Yet during the week, you get your responsibilities done no matter how much they suck, but you might put off that exercise on the weekend so you can “chill”. This is the battle between external and internal accountability. 

External accountability is your responsibility to others, like meetings, deadlines, showing up on time, etc. Internal accountability is keeping the promises you make to yourself, and making them a real priority. The important thing is to have both, but internal accountability particularly reflects your credibility and that will not go unnoticed.  

Everyone has values and certain rules that they hold close and know not to veer away from in their daily lives. These values are typically maintained through routines and practices that help feed those values each day just a little bit more. Eventually, carrying out self-serving practices as well as your commitments to others will help you earn a fulfilling life. 

Now how do you become accountable, stay accountable, or why would you even want to be accountable outside of your regular responsibilities? Recall that we’re hardwired to avoid change. Consider these for yourself:

Cost of Inaction

Everything we do directly correlates to a future outcome. For example, if a leader doesn’t go out and make deals or connect with others, how will their business do? Everything is a trade-off. This is an important concept to consider when working towards anything. Of course, there are always things you want outside your goals that make you happy, but what’s their real price?

Will you have to do extra work tomorrow? Will you be mentally prepared to handle your tasks? You must take inventory of what you need to operate effectively. If there’s something you have to give up to make that happen, evaluate your priorities. At the end of the day, you want to equip yourself today to handle tomorrow and you might find that tomorrow keeps getting easier.

Know Your Role

What titles do you hold? A friend? Sister? Brother? Dad? Mom? Director? Manager? Understanding what kind of impact you bring to anything you’re involved in, whether work, relationships, or family, will give you a sense of your need to provide. To provide value in any area of your life, you need to take care of yourself first. 

This is where internal accountability meets external. To be effective in the roles or titles you hold, you need to know how much rides on your presence and efforts. You can then carry that with you as you go through your daily practices.

Daily Practice

Getting better at something is not an overnight or multi-step process. To get better, we have to give up instant gratification. Instead, we want to challenge ourselves every day in ways that are going to build us up long-term. 

For example, dedicating an hour a day to reading, waking up at the same time for breakfast each day, or having a no phone period. These practices can be anything you want them to be as long as you know they will serve you. Once you establish what they are, structure them and make them a routine. 

Conclusion

To be the best you can be, you have to give yourself opportunities to seek advancement, and that doesn’t just mean job-wise. It’s advancing the use of your time. If you dedicated an hour here, thirty minutes there every day to self-serving practices, you’d be surprised what could come. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Managing Change: Unshakeable Success

Nothing ever really stays the same for long. This is especially true in business as people come and go, consumer interests change, and the world overall has its shifts. The thing about change is that it is always the beginning of new opportunities. If you look at your life right now, everything you’ve established had a beginning which ultimately was a result of the change.

The tricky thing here is that change often throws us off balance and it can be hard to navigate. Yet change is inevitable and we need to be prepared to handle it. The ability to do so starts with exactly that, anticipating change. Finding the positives won’t happen immediately, but this doesn’t mean you wait for them to present themselves. Actively searching for ways to make the most of your current situation is the starting point of success. 

Consider for a moment the difference in your attitude when change is imposed on you compared to when you decide to make a change. Well, one of course can feel like a punishment, it can be “this person's fault” or “just your bad luck”. Now the other is very different, it’s empowering and we look at it as something that’s going to be of great benefit. So how can you start to recognize change like that? Well, it starts with you being your own leader. Guiding yourself is the first step before you can even consider leading others. 

Going to this place where you can evaluate the situation with a clear mind is an executive skill that will no doubt serve you well. However, you still need to take action, so here are some things you can do:

Rectify The Situation

Once you’ve acknowledged the areas that aren’t going to serve you as a result of the change, begin looking for ways to mitigate them. This is important early on because the longer you let problems sit, the bigger they tend to become. For example, if you have a delivery that’s supposed to go to a client but the shipment gets cancelled. 

The best thing to do is notify your clients immediately and begin searching for answers. This is opposed to getting mad at the situation, waiting for updates while the deadline gets closer, and then choosing to notify at the last minute. In short, you can be frustrated with change but don’t expect any problem to solve itself— you have to create your ideal. 

What Can You Build On?

Shifting from problem-solving mode, what does this change present that could benefit other aspects of your life or business? The shift to remote work was a prime example of taking advantage of change for some. Some people lost their jobs and found better jobs or became entrepreneurs. This is of course a radical anomaly but it nonetheless shows the impact managing change can have long term. 

Create A Vision

Action is useless without purpose. Purpose ultimately derives from having a clear vision of what’s intended through your actions. You create a vision primarily to overcome something that’s not working for you. Whatever that may be, if you know something isn’t working, you should ultimately have an idea of what could be better. 

Think about the better situation. If you focus on it, you can start taking steps to bring it to life. If you are in a leadership role, ensure everyone on your team is aligned with this vision so everyone can understand the purpose of their efforts. 

Conclusion

Change is in no way easy, we are naturally programmed to feel unsettled or resist when change presents itself. Fighting against this natural urge is difficult but not impossible, because ultimately our drive and ambition are stronger than our natural instincts. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!

Leadership in a High Stress Environment

Did you know that leading people can be stressful? If you didn’t, here’s your “something new” to learn for the day. Leadership will test every bit of patience you have. Unfortunately, this will get the best of you at times. You will wish you had handled situations differently and have to own your mistakes. 

While leaders may like to think of themselves as adaptable, understanding, and generally composed, things happen outside the scope of daily practice in the workplace. Something to consider here is that when we become stressed out or overwhelmed, it feels like everything is coming at us. In reality, we may just be stuck finding a way to prioritize, effectively delegate, and manage our time to navigate the situation. 

This is important to keep in mind, especially considering how short a stressful time lasts when dealt with properly. As a leader, if you are difficult to deal with under pressure, your team will feel less comfortable and refrain from using their efforts to solve the issue. So, a leader could risk their reputation and team cohesion because of a short stress period. 

An effective leader wouldn’t want to risk that, so here’s how they can manage this better:

Begin With Yourself

Leaders who are not content with themselves will find it difficult being able to manage the needs of others. Having healthy rituals and outlets outside of your responsibilities that act as a form of catharsis should be the starting point for any leader. This will keep you and your emotions in check as you’ve allocated time to simply think, time that will not pour over into your work hours.

Manage

An essential part of being a leader is being able to manage numerous components of the daily operation. This includes managing time, emotions, and the team through difficult tasks. It starts with detachment from the scenario, a leader who can adapt and remain calm when faced with change will be able to manage the situation effectively. 

Additionally, a leader who gets the team involved, not by dishing out negativity, but by keeping everyone level-headed and focused, will be successful.

Never Assume The Facts

Constantly asking questions and clarifying the situation is critical. This eliminates a level of uncertainty while keeping the leader and team up to date. Imagine being faced with a problem, you spend days coming up with a solution just to find out critical details have changed.

Who’s fault is this? Leadership. It is not the fault of whatever decision-makers who would, of course, be the easy targets to blame. It is always on the leader to keep their approach and team up to date with the details.

Communicate

Whether this is a briefing or any other form that suits your organization, a leader should address what’s to come. This keeps everyone on the same page and gives the leader a chance to calmly address the situation. As a result, the team will feel more involved, the leader will see the situation more clearly, and everyone should have an idea of what is expected of them. 

It is especially important here to be clear and straight to the point while delivering messages. Leaders can then open up the discussion to hear the thoughts of their team and engage them in a discussion. 

Conclusion

Being a leader comes with immense pressure, navigating responsibilities is by no means a one-step process. It requires leaders to be attentive and have their heads on a swivel while understanding their role in everything that goes on. 

We work with successful companies to increase their net profits using exceptional custom software solutions, contact us here to see how we can help your business grow!