If you’re anything like me, the run-up to Jan 1st sees you focusing on what will be achieved in 2019.

At Ignite, we hold our annual planning meeting in December, to firstly review the year that’s been, and plan for the one to come.

Part of this planning process sees us setting some goals, be it individually, as a coaching group and as a business.

Over the next few days, we’re going to share some of the methods we use to effectively set goals.

The first place we start is accountability. You can set the greatest goals the world has ever seen, but without accountability, they’re just like the dreams you had last night. Many feel that accountability comes from sharing with another or from telling the world about what you’re about to attempt (and hopefully achieve!).

For us, accountability starts with You! You’ve got to first hold yourself accountable before relying on others to do so. Outside sources of accountability are great, but if you’re not accountable to yourself, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Sure, yes, it’s fine to tell your best friend you aim to lose 15 kilos by winter, and hopefully, she will encourage you and add her support, but it’s not up to HER for you to lose weight – only you can do it.

Personal Accountability is better than No. 8 wire

1976 saw New Zealand adopting the metric system and Number 8 Wire transformed into 4.0mm gauge wire.

Regardless of this administrative change, the traditional use of the phrase ‘Number 8 wire’ is still going strong today. This phrase embodies the Kiwi strengths of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and an attitude of getting it done regardless. Being isolated from the world, down here in our corner of paradise, adapting and improvising is a way of survival, not just life. Number 8 wire was readily available, and so early settlers put it to work.

Fast forward to the modern-day, and this ‘can-do’ attitude has bought us Bungy, Jet Boats and the Pav!

The entrepreneurs who’ve blessed us with these shining beacons of kiwi ingenuity also understand the need to be personally accountable.

A Dutch distributor for Kiwi Company Gallagher Group, the inventors of the electric fence, tells the story about how years ago his father had travelled to a trade show in the United Kingdom and brought home a Gallagher electric fence.

But they couldn’t get the fence to work properly when they got it home and complained to the Hamilton Company.

The Dutch family was sitting at home one dark winter’s night when there was a knock at the door. Standing in the doorway was Bill Gallagher himself, come to fix the problem in person.

The point is, while someone else may have been able to fix the problem, Gallagher knew he could, and so he did.

When you are accountable to someone else to reach your goals – it’s merely number 8 wire on your problems. Sure, you’ll go to the gym because your trainer is waiting, and you’ll order the oven-baked chicken breast salad at lunch because your friend – who knows you’re trying to lose 15 kilos by winter – is giving you the evil eye.

What happens, however, when your trainer and friend aren’t around?

What happens when it’s midnight and everyone else in your house is asleep and you’ve had a crap day and are looking at the bar of Whittaker’s in the fridge?

Who’s going to stop you from eating the entire thing? Your trainer? Friend?

Nope – You are.

You are the only person who can hold yourself accountable at that crucial moment in time, and believe me tell you, life is full of those moments so you had better get good at personal accountability.

In other words, real motivation MUST come from WITHIN!

Tomorrow we’ll discuss the first tip in applying this accountability…