Things we create or do, alters reality. Some for the better and others not so much. Some will have positive results in the short run but turn ineffective in the longer trajectory. Some will be the complete opposite. Of course, it’s near impossible to determine all the moving parts of our action but in some instance, we can create environment to test and mitigate such probabilities. This chapter I wanted to explore the concept of accountability and obtaining feedback on a personal level and on a community level prior to execution of ideas. Let’s start by looking from the community level. 

 

Some of us may be blessed to have a group of people who are buying into our ambitions and willing to support and keep us on track or provide feedback during ideation phase. Having a community that holds you accountable not just for your goal but also action is sometimes very valuable to have. Especially if they act as the first stage buffer before things reach the ‘real world’. This sort of accountability does not only allow other people to invest in our ideas but also allow them to penetrate any flaws in our ideas early. That gives us the opportunity to patch it before we present it to the world. There is value in this if we are creating, designing, or offering things that will have long term effect on reality or its going to have a large audience and or customer base. 

 

Alternative to a community-based accountability we could also have individual that we may reach out directly to offer their insight; give feedback or simply help keep us on track. 
There is another concept that could be utilised on individual level. I call it the ‘accountability buddy’ system. Accountability buddies are not necessarily mentors, advisors, or educators.  They are simply people we select that we trust, respect, and admire. They are passive human check-in points for the purpose of keeping us undistracted and aligned in our journey. They are people who may buy into our objective and that is not necessarily in a financial context but may just want to see us succeed in our journey. Accountability buddy are different from mentors because with this process you need to know to a degree what outcome you want. You can use the accountability buddy system to be your check in point. 

 

Let me elaborate, let us say you want to get from A to C; in that process there may be some milestones that needs completing. Between A to C there may be some tasks that needs completing at point B. What you will do is write a set off questions that you need to gain answers to in the process of reaching C and give it to your accountability buddy. These are passive questions; accountability buddy’s job is not to tell you whether you fail or succeed. They are basically the individual that will ask you those set of questions. You have complete ownership as to how things unfold after every meet. They can help note down your response to each question or you can do that yourself. Once completed you set the next set of question for the next check in. Where there were tasks that were incomplete you need to write your response as to why it was not done and add it back to the lists for the next check-in if still required. This exercise is one that requires a certain level of discipline, honesty, and high transparency with self. 

 

Here are some principles for picking an accountability buddy. The first is respect; your accountability buddy must be someone you will allow yourself to listen to. Second is trust, you will be sharing with this person detail about your personal ambition, goals and hopes. That may reveal a lot of your vulnerabilities and areas you may not be comfortable about sharing with just anyone. So, you want the person you choose to be someone who understands that and has strong integrity. Three, it should be someone you admire to a certain degree. What you admire about them does not have to be anything aligned with your industry or your ambition but someone whom you do not want to appear as failure in front of. Now that last point is important because if selected incorrectly it may make this process ineffective. Your admiration of this individual should not outweigh your own inner discipline because if you select someone you want to impress so bad that it contributes to you lying about your progress during check in then that is not the ideal candidate. Below are some examples of check-in questions.

 

Check-in Questions

• Where are you with this goal/s?
• Did we meet our last target that we set out?
• What have you found worked?
• What have you found doesn't work or need improvement?
• How are you feeling about your progress?
• What skill set, resources or system could simplify or improve your effort?
• How will you obtain these skill set, (resources or system)?
• When should we allocate next check in?
• What will be completed by then?