I’m in a slump, dude. Feel like my business has a hex or something on it. Losing listings lately and slow on deal volume. How do you get out of that? Just grind through it until it changes?
This is a text message I received recently. And my initial response was quick:
Work harder on yourself than you do on your job,
and
Commit to high levels of accountability.
I left my response at that, and one of the questions I received back was:
Is the 5 AM Call your accountability?
That’s when I realized I have to really break down what high levels of accountability actually means and looks like.
Layer Accountability
To answer the question: yes, the 5AM Call is one of my ways to stay accountable.
But I have many more.
I have two coaches that I speak to weekly, that I am financially committed to. So I better execute on what both of those coaches are saying.
I also have weekly team accountability meetings where I’m accountable to a group of individuals.
I have a weekly mastermind. Not one of these masterminds that’s flaky where we get on Zoom once in a while. A ridiculously committed weekly mastermind that’s been going on for multiple years.
I also have a one-on-one accountability partner, and we chat for 10-15 minutes, three times a week: every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
I have a vision board with my wife, which holds me accountable for the things we want for our family.
So when you look at that how much accountability I’ve layered in, it’s really hard to let myself fall into a slump.
Why Grinding It Out Doesn’t Help
The worst thing you can do is just grind it out and hope things change, because you’re going to grind yourself down.
We need accountability to make sure we do the things we say we’re going to do, when we say we’re going to do them.
Because we don’t want to face the music, of telling our accountability partners, “I didn’t do it again, couldn’t do it.” That’s when that’s what masterminds and accountability groups stop meeting (or kick you out of the group).
Getting Started
I didn’t start all of these things at once; I’ve added layers of accountability over the past several years.
If you are just getting started, select one or two ways to add in accountability – I always suggest a coach to get started, because that financial commitment is an extra push. Fully commit and track your progress. Then, in 2-3 months, reassess and ask yourself: How can I add another layer of accountability?
How many more can you add, where you’re not going to grind yourself to the bone, where these accountability partnerships are going to continue to pull you up to make sure that the slumps and the lower levels of motivation are far and few between.
Financial accountability, deadlines, commitment, and the fear of having to tell someone you didn’t do what you say you were going to do: these are all things that work to keep you going every single day.
Motivation fades quickly.
And after that, we better be accountable to what we say we’re going to do.