Business Success and The Homework Principle!
It’s a fact that if you feel accountable for something you’re more likely to take it seriously.
Let’s face it, as pupils in school - and I know that may be longer ago for some of us than others! - if we knew that homework wasn’t going to be collected in and marked, we probably wouldn’t make too much of an effort to get it done, especially if there was something better we could be doing.
There was nothing that frustrated me more than hearing our 15 year old say “there’s no point in doing my homework because the teacher never collects it in!” WHATTT!!!
However, if the homework was for the teacher who always checked and marked it and you were likely to get detention or some other similar punishment if it wasn’t completed and handed in on time, l’m sure he'd make every effort to do the best he could.
And that usually means completing the task!
Plan
Even when there’s something you actually want to do, there’s always a far greater chance you will actually do it if you plan your actions and put a deadline on it.
Action
Great business ideas come to us at the strangest times and at that moment they will seem the best thing you’ve ever thought of and you’ll decide you’re going to do it, whatever ‘it’ is.
But if you don’t take action straight away and other things get in the way, even though it may remain in the back of your mind, the likelihood of it ever happening diminishes.
Share your thoughts and intentions
But if you tell someone else about your idea and when it’s going to happen, you’ve all of a sudden become accountable for it and there’s far more chance of it happening, especially if the other person wants you to tell them about it after it’s done.
Let’s face it nobody likes to look silly by not doing what they’ve said they will!
Here’s something that tells the story perfectly
Statistics from the American Society of Training & Development.
The probability of completing a goal if...
you hear an idea: 10%
decide when you will do it: 40%
plan how you will do it: 50%
commit to someone else you will do it: 65%
have a specific accountability appointment with the person you’ve committed to: 95%
You more than double the likelihood of completing a goal if you move from deciding to do it to committing to report back to someone on your progress!
Business Success Tip!
If you want to achieve great things in business, plan it, share it with someone you trust and make yourself accountable by agreeing to report back on the outcome by a certain date.
Accountability gets things done!
Check out our Sounding Board Strategy Sessions, these are great for setting tasks and agreeing outcomes and we’ll act as your accountability partners.
It’s all dedicated to helping you succeed in business.
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