{"id":6594,"date":"2016-05-09T10:45:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T17:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/?p=6594"},"modified":"2016-06-14T09:51:03","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T16:51:03","slug":"8-tips-to-make-great-things-happen-with-an-accountability-buddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/8-tips-to-make-great-things-happen-with-an-accountability-buddy\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Tips to Make Great Things Happen with an Accountability Buddy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"8<\/p>\n

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I have a problem. <\/b>Turns out I suck at prioritizing important tasks that don\u2019t have a sense of urgency. It\u2019s way too easy for me to get caught up with the urgent (and often unimportant) things in life. So I\u2019m trying something new that I\u2019m excited to share with you all! I\u2019ve just started working with an \u201caccountability partner\u201d and I think you should too.<\/span><\/h2>\n

At salonMonster our blog is an important tool for communicating with our clients and other salon industry peeps. However, if I look at the frequency of our recent updates it\u2019s embarrassing. I know I should be more diligent with updating it but things always seem to get in the way\u00a0\u2014\u00a0like phone calls, emails and all the little things involved in running a business. \u00a0It\u2019s not that writing for our blog isn\u2019t important or even that I can\u2019t make the time. It\u2019s because unlike tasks that have a sense of urgency no one is going to chastise me if I don\u2019t post to our blog on time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

B<\/span>ut <\/span>though writing for our blog is <\/span>not an urgent task<\/span>, it is,\u00a0i<\/span>n fact very important! It\u2019s a way to connect with you, our clients, to develop ideas and to market salonMonster to potential new clients. I bet you can think of several tasks like this in your salon — things that are important but not urgent. Things that would move your business forward in leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be great to make these things happen? This is where an accountability partner can help. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The power of being accountable to someone is huge. Think about how much more likely you are to follow through on something if you\u2019ve told other people about it? In fact, a <\/span>study of behavioural medicine<\/span><\/a> shows that having a workout partner can double your performance! Think of this as a gym for your business. Having a buddy to help keep you on track with your business goals can take you to the next level of success.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So what are some tips for getting yourself set up with an accountability partner?<\/span><\/h2>\n

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    \n
  1. Choose someone you trust \u2014<\/b> You need to feel comfortable and confident to share openly with this person. Find someone who will challenge you in a constructive way and\u00a0will not put you down. They don\u2019t have to be in your industry and in fact working with someone with a different area of expertise can often provide a much needed fresh perspective. My accountability partner is Marial of MarialWrites.com<\/a>, an extremely talented writing and creativity coach who\u2019s work I truly respect and someone I really trust. If you\u2019re looking for help realizing your creative projects please get in touch with her.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Be clear about expectations \u2014<\/b> Knowing what you both want to get out of this experience will increase the likelihood of it happening.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Share your weaknesses \u2014 <\/b>Be honest, share with your partner what you need help with. Like me I bet you have a pretty good idea what you want to achieve and what\u2019s blocking you. Sharing this with them will give them to tools that need to help you succeed.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Take responsibility \u2014 <\/b>Remember, your partner is there to help hold you accountable to your goals but they are not responsible for your success. This is your job. Don\u2019t blame your partner for your failures.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Share the time \u2014 <\/b>Always allot an equal amount of time to each partner\u2019s business. The goal is to help both of you thrive. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Define the consequences \u2014<\/b> For me it\u2019s enough that I\u2019m going to be truly embarrassed if I don\u2019t have progress to report to my partner. You might want to have some fun with it though and if you don’t follow through on your commitments then you’ll be\u00a0the one buying lunch next week.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Set a schedule<\/b> \u2014 We\u2019re doing a phone call once a week with an email check-in partway through the week. Whatever suits you and your partner is great, just make sure you plan it out to ensure it happens.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Choose an arrangement that works for you <\/b> \u2014 If working with a single partner isn\u2019t your style or you can\u2019t seem to find someone consider looking for an accountability group.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    I\u2019m excited to start on my accountability journey and I hope you\u2019ll join me by finding your own accountability partner. \u00a0Let\u2019s make great stuff happen.<\/h2>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    One month update\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Wow, this accountability buddy journey has turned out to be far more powerful than I expected.\u00a0 I\u2019m loving it! \u00a0 I\u2019ve not only made great progress towards my initial goals, I\u2019ve also found it has much farther reaching implications in my life than I expected.<\/p>\n

    In the past 5 weeks I\u2019ve written 4 blog posts.\u00a0 An 80% success rate which ain\u2019t too shabby.\u00a0 Sure I wish I\u2019d hit the mark every week but I\u2019m still very proud of this accomplishment (although I felt super guilty the week I flopped).\u00a0 Compared to my past record this is exciting!<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve also found that our accountability meetings have really got me thinking about a lot of other things that I didn\u2019t expect.\u00a0 The weekly discussions have been great and helped me notice patterns and behaviour both good and bad.\u00a0 It\u2019s forcing me to re-evaluate things like whether I am setting the right goals for myself.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m looking forward to continuing with this process and to the successes and surprises it brings.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I have a problem. Turns out I suck at prioritizing important tasks that don\u2019t have a sense of urgency. It\u2019s way too easy for me to get caught up with the urgent (and often unimportant) things in life. So I\u2019m trying something new that I\u2019m excited to share with you all! I\u2019ve just started … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6594"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6594\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salonmonster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}