[[:encoded, "Following through is the key component of goal achievement. When you stop procrastinating and follow through on your good intentions, you turn your intentions into tangible results. Yet our intentions don’t always control our actions. Even when we start out strong and act on our good intentions, most people will slip back into their old habits in a short period of time. All the enthusiasm, gusto, and zeal in the world cannot guarantee results. Even the best of intentions will not magically move us forward.\n\nThe best excuses in the world are still just excuses – and excuses are just another obstacle on your journey to achieving your goals. \n\nThe biggest problem most people face when trying to achieve their goals is lack of accountability. If you are only reporting to yourself, procrastination becomes easy. “I’ll start tomorrow,” or “I’ll make this my New Year’s Eve resolution,” or “I’ll eat this cheesecake now and start my diet tomorrow,” is most people’s mantra.\n\nUnfortunately, tomorrow becomes next week, next week becomes next month, and eventually next month becomes never. People think they know what they want, but believe that they don’t have the will power or determination to actually take steps toward their goals. We are all human. We all need help and support. Nobody succeeds alone.\n\nSo how do individuals who are lacking the “follow through” gene still produce results? How do you alter your good intentions to produce the follow through necessary for action? Listen and find out. \n\nBegin enjoying the experience of an even greater life quality and total life balance. Aim for what you want each and every day! Until next time, make it a great day, today and every day!"]]
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I’m the author of many books, including, Excuses Don’t Count; Results Rule, Live Life with No Regrets, No Excuses, The Guide to Stopping Procrastination, The Power of Visualization, My Gratitude Journal, the Work Life Balance Emergency Kit, and The Roadmap To Success with Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard, and more.
Aim for what you want each and every day!
Anne Bachrach
The Accountability Coach™
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(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to the Accountability Coach podcast, where we will discuss topics, issues, questions, and ideas related to having a totally balanced and successful life. This is Ann Baccrack. Today we're gonna talk about how most of us just don't have enough accountability in our life to be successful as we desire. Dennis Waitley says, the success of our efforts depends not so much on the efforts themselves, but rather on the motive for doing them. We are trained from birth to believe that if we want something badly enough, we will find a way to make something a reality. For most people, this is just not the case. All the enthusiasm, gusto, and zeal in the world cannot guarantee results. Even the best of intentions will not magically move us forward. Following through is the key component of goal achievement. When you stop procrastinating and following through on your good intentions, you turn your intentions into tangible results. Yet our intentions don't always control our actions. Even when we start out strong and act on our good intentions, most people will slip back into their old habits in a short period of time. Even things that we believe are really important to us can fall victim to procrastination. The biggest problem most people face when trying to achieve their goals is lack of accountability. If you are only reporting to yourself, procrastination becomes easy. You might say, I'll start tomorrow or I'll make this my New Year's resolution or I'll eat this cheesecake now and start my diet tomorrow. Seems to be most people's mantra. Unfortunately, tomorrow becomes next week, next week becomes next month, and eventually next month becomes never. People think they know what they want, but believe that they don't have the willpower or determination to actually take steps towards their goals. We are all human. We all need help and support. Nobody succeeds alone. So why can't we just follow through on our actions? Researchers offer a variety of viewpoints to explain the problem. So how do individuals who are lacking the follow through gene still produce results? How do you alter your good intentions to produce the follow through necessary for action? Well, one might be finding a way to hold yourself accountable, either with one or more people. Number two is hiring an accountability coach for some serious one on one coaching. Don Wilder says, excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. I once had a client who was sick for a few days in a two week period of time. During a subsequent conversation, this person used his illness to justify his lack of progress on his reporting sheets. I knew that he still would have enough time to complete his highest payoff activities and get the results he wanted for that time period. So I refused to buy his excuse. Sure, he may have had to juggle a few things and modify his calendar to make up for the few sick days, but he still could have accomplished his highest payoff activities. The fact of the matter was, he chose not to do some of the things he really needed to do, and he wanted to blame being sick for a few days. The best excuses in the world are still just excuses, and excuses are just another obstacle on your journey to achieving your goals. I'm a human being, and I realize that things are going to come up in life, unexpected illnesses, appointments, meetings, and other emergencies are bound to happen. Life just happens, is what I call this. It happens to all of us. But if you allow these situations to interfere with your progress every time they occur, you'll never get anywhere. Once this client realized he wasn't going to get, he wasn't going to get any slack from me, he recognized his error, and he never made the same mistake again. I don't want to waste time talking to people about their excuses and the reasons why something didn't get done. When I work with someone, we want to focus on progress, achievements, and setting milestones that will help them to reach their goals in the timeframe they've established. My motto is, excuses don't count unless you're dead. Well, you know, this may sound harsh, but my rationale is that this attitude is in the clients and the other person's best interest. If someone says that they want to do something and commits to taking the steps necessary to make it happen, then they need to do it. Know if, ands, or buts about it. How would having someone in your life who doesn't buy into your excuses accelerate the achievement of your goals? As my husband says, failing with an excuse, even with a really good excuse, is not as good as succeeding. The fact of the matter is that a person's goal should be enough to motivate them to move forward. If they don't, maybe they just don't want what they said they really want badly enough to actually do the work required. Jim Rome says, if you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. Your calendar is your lifeline to successfully achieving your goals. Schedule everything that you do each day, each week, each month on your calendar, at least initially, including things like showers, meals, drive time, working out, and then you can even color code each activity by type. When is the best time to do each type of activity? When will you be able to achieve the best results for each activity? To avoid overbooking yourself, take a look at everything you have to do and then determine how much time you will need to accomplish each task. Then add time to that number. If you actually do finish the task before the allotted time has expired, you have what I call the gift of time to move on to the next highest payoff activities. Here's some tips for scheduling. Put everything you need to accomplish on your calendar. Then group similar activities together. For example, if you have to make certain types of calls, conduct annual meetings with clients or interview potential clients, for example, do these types of activities at the same time. Schedule a block of time for administrative activities that are not high payoff tasks, things like email, answering the phone and unscheduled meetings fall into this category. Scheduling time for these tasks saves a lot of time in mental energy because you don't continually have to change hats while working on activities required to achieve your goals. Your mental energy and focus stays on like activities or similar activities and maximizes your efficiency. Ask yourself, what are the highest payoff activities I can do to achieve my goals in the timeframe that I've set? Work first on those activities that produce the results you want rather than focusing on the tasks that might be easier to do and maybe even more fun or don't cause you to step outside your comfort zone. The goal is not to be outside your comfort zone. The goal is to do the work the goal requires to achieve it, whether that work is within your comfort zone or not. If you don't already use your calendar for effective time management, you will quickly experience the power of this type of scheduling. It creates a lot of focus on the right activities and allows you to see and feel progress towards your goals. Begin enjoying the experience of an even greater quality of life and total life balance. Aim for what you want each and every day. Until next time, make it a great day, today and every day. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
[[:encoded, "Following through is the key component of goal achievement. When you stop procrastinating and follow through on your good intentions, you turn your intentions into tangible results. Yet our intentions don’t always control our actions. Even when we start out strong and act on our good intentions, most people will slip back into their old habits in a short period of time. All the enthusiasm, gusto, and zeal in the world cannot guarantee results. Even the best of intentions will not...
