Studio Note #55: Ask Me Wednesday.
Accountability is just a deadline with witnesses.
One of the questions that came up at my last Firestorm meeting was what we were actually getting out of being there.
The obvious answer is business.
We’re all there, at least in part, because being around other business owners creates opportunities. Referrals happen. Introductions happen. Sometimes actual work happens.
But that’s not the part I value most.
Running a business can be surprisingly isolating.
You spend a lot of time talking to clients, prospects, vendors and people you work with. Those relationships matter, but they aren’t quite the same as sitting around a table with other people who are also responsible for figuring out what happens next.
There’s value in being able to commune with people who understand that.
Eventually our conversation turned to accountability.
What are you going to do next? What have you been putting off? And, more importantly, what are you willing to have everyone ask you about the next time you’re sitting at this table?
Mine was social media.
I know we need to get more consistent about it. I’ve known that for a while. We’ve talked about what we should post, how often we should post and what we want the different channels to accomplish.
Knowing has not been the problem.
Doing it consistently has.
So now I get to go back Wednesday and tell everyone how it’s going.
At the moment, that progress report is going to be pretty shitty unless I get moving.
Which, I suppose, is exactly the point.
Accountability isn’t particularly complicated. Saying you’re going to do something to yourself is easy. Saying it in front of a group of people who are going to see you again next week changes it just enough.
They don’t have to make me do it.
They just have to ask me Wednesday.