Accountability Challenge Week 40: Performance Groups
This week I wanted to share with you the real power of accountability and support when used effectively. I call this the Power of the Performance Group.
If you’ve stayed connected to us for the last 40 weeks, then you know how important the power of personal accountability is in achieving your goals and dreams.
However, there is a real danger of playing it safe and remaining a spectator instead of committing “full on” and getting into the game.
Ask yourself this important question: Have I been following through on the Accountability challenges or merely “thinking about them?”
If you are honest, and you are human, then the probability is that you’ve done a bit of both, but not as much of the former as you would like.
I know because I put myself in the “thinking about it” camp much more often than I would have liked.
When I look at some of my “big, hairy, audacious goals” –particularly in my business-I have fallen short. Why is that?
When I looked in the mirror, I realized that I was really only playing lip service to my own personal accountability to “do the work” that my business goals were asking me to do.
Several weeks ago, I realized that if I was serious about making progress towards “these” goals (which I was!) something had to change-I had to change. I also recognized that I needed “help” to change.
It was at this point that I made the decision to follow through on organizing my own Performance Group of like-minded individuals within the financial advice profession.This group would meet on a weekly basis, and we would commit in writing in the form of a weekly Performance Contract to commit completing a specific number of performance activities. These activities would move us toward our personal income/business related goals.
It is important to emphasis that my commitment was to a specific targeted activity not a result. For example I committed to making 10 “prospecting” telephone calls four days during the business week. I had no control over the outcome of each call, but I could control whether or not I made the effort to pick up the telephone.
We have now completed our second week as a Performance Group, and though it may be too early to judge the long term results, I can tell you with certainty that this has been by far the most effective performance enhancing tool that I have ever used.
Let me repeat that, creating a Performance Group (there are currently three of us in the group)has been by far the most effective performance enhancing tool I have ever used!
The power of making a personal written commitment to another person, or group of people is simply a life changing experience. I can virtually guarantee that either of two outcomes will come as a result of your own participation in a Performance Group:
If you follow through in your commitment, and your weekly contracts, over a specified period of time, generally 8 -12 weeks, you will experience a Quantum Leap toward the achievement of your goals. .
- If you will quit the program at some point before completion, you will go back to square one.
I admit that there was a tremendous amount of personal Resistance (otherwise known as the enemy within) on my part in organizing this performance group. After all, I had known about this concept (in theory) for ten years. My internal demons were doing their best to convince me otherwise: “you will never find a group of people who will commit to this type of thing”. “ It’s too much work”, “but what will “they” think-“it won’t work” etc., etc. etc.
Fortunately my own Powers of Persistence have grown strong enough over the past 51 weeks, for me to finally check my self-doubts and self-defeating behaviours at the door.
I sincerely encourage you to do the same.
All you need is two or three people who have goals that are similar to your own and who are open minded, and likeminded enough to recognized that it is ok to ask for help. It is in fact strength rather than a weakness.
If you are serious about achieving the goals that are important to you, and to live the life of your dreams, you simply must take action on this concept.
My challenge to you is to go out and create your own performance group.
I’m here to help if you need it
Expect Success,
Coach Mark,
Thought for the week : ‘In Union there is Success” Aesop
Mark Hudon, CFP™, CCS™
Financial Fitness Coach, Certified Cash Flow Specialist™
Creator of The Core Conditioning Program™
