How to Hold Yourself Accountable as a Solopreneur

The post How to Hold Yourself Accountable as a Solopreneur appeared first on The Founding Moms.

Check out this fantastic article from the awesome Eleanor Hecks — founder and managing editor of Designerly Magazine.

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When working for yourself, you know you don’t have to answer to anyone else. However, that can make it difficult to fulfill important tasks at times. Self-accountability is a trait most solopreneurs commonly lack. 

Yet, if you lack accountability for yourself — it could be the reason you’re not moving forward in the right direction. As a result, you’re not hitting your goals, pushing yourself further behind than anticipated.

It can be easy to make yourself accountable when no one is watching. But that doesn’t mean you need to give up. Instead, you learn positive ways to be more self-accountable to maintain focus, boost your productivity and increase your chances of success. Below are some easy ways to achieve that.

1. Set Deadlines

Setting deadlines can hold you back from achieving a positive outcome. However, they can help you reach your goals if you do it the right way. Avoid unrealistic deadlines and make them easy to obtain by adopting the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) goal method.

Establishing strategic goals can ensure you define specific, measurable objectives that keep you accountable.

Keep in mind that by establishing short deadlines, there’s no overthinking. Keeping it as simple as possible can keep your work exciting as you try to reach new milestones.

2. Use a Calendar

You can easily hold yourself accountable by taking control of your calendar. A calendar will help you achieve the right balance between your personal and professional life. However, you must ensure you’re maintaining productivity by determining what is worth your time.

So before you add a task to your calendar, ask yourself — Will this help me get closer to achieving my long-term and short-term goals?

If it doesn’t, avoid adding it to your calendar. The first rule to follow is, to be honest with yourself about how many tasks you can take on or how much time you can spend. It should be your objective to keep that balance between your long and short-term goals.

3. Write It All Down

If you’re a visual person, it can help you visualize your tasks for the day by writing everything down in a planner or notebook. To-do lists are essential since they can be helpful reminders and allow you to focus on each one.

You can even write your to-do list on a sticky note and place it on your monitor. That way, you can constantly see it, then take it off and toss it in the trash at the end of the day.

Brightly colored sticky notes can also be helpful, as you always know where to look for your tasks and make it urgent to accomplish them.

Keeping these items in front of you can always guarantee your tasks aren’t out of sight and out of mind.

4. Reward Yourself

Rewards aren’t always the answer to self-accountability. Still, they can surely be helpful.

Start rewarding yourself when you achieve new milestones. These can indicate that it’s time to unwind so you can feel recharged. Forcing yourself to step away from work is crucial for refueling your mind and body.

While you don’t have to take a vacation, it can be as simple as dining out at your favorite restaurant or pampering yourself at the spa.

Once you give yourself a break that you deserve, you may find yourself coming back with a mind full of new ideas. Plus, your hard work always deserves a tiny celebration.

5. Measure Your Results

Consider conducting a performance evaluation on yourself. Whether you’re hitting your goals or not, it’s important to be transparent about your accomplishments. That way, you can learn where you are in your progress and stay focused on the big picture. 

Consider referring to your SMART goals and using KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure your progress. This method can help you reflect on your performance and learn which steps to take.

Personal feedback is crucial in realizing where the problems lie. In doing so, you can fix the issue and optimize your strategy to help you reach your goals more effectively.

6. Partner Up and Seek Feedback

Gaining feedback is key to holding yourself and your business accountable for achieving your goals. Consider partnering with a friend who is also a solopreneur. The two of you can have monthly meetings to check your progress and evaluate your achievements.

Sometimes it takes a team to hold yourself accountable, and you can always seek feedback as a learning opportunity.

Plus, it can be inspirational when you both are modeling the same behavior. That way, work becomes more motivational. You can always gain strategic insights about your progress, learn what worked and didn’t and help each other succeed.

While the two of you are communicating feedback, it becomes easier to reach your goals.

7. Own Up to Your Mistakes

As a solopreneur, you’re bound to make mistakes along the way. It doesn’t matter how great your ideas become. Chances are that something will go wrong at a certain point.

You may miss a deadline or an event doesn’t turn out as planned. The point is that you’re human, and we all make mistakes. That’s where you must own up to them — whether it’s for a client or yourself.

Owning up to your mistakes may not be easy. Yet once you open yourself up to a realization, you can learn from it and put yourself back on the right track.

Set Yourself up for Success

Become accountable for yourself in achieving your goals with these personal accountability tips. As a solopreneur, it’s not always easy to maintain accountability. However, it’s a crucial aspect of yourself to work on and see things through. 

Do you find it challenging to hold yourself accountable? If so, working with others can help you crush your business goals one by one. Snag a membership at The Founding Moms today.

Eleanor Hecks is the founder and managing editor of Designerly Magazine. She’s also a web design consultant with a focus on customer experience and user interface. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dogs, Bear and Lucy. Connect with her about marketing, design and/or tea on LinkedIn!

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