Month: September 2014

Accountability Experiment Day 14: Medical Problems

???????????Today is Day 14 of my 30-day accountability experiment. I am trying to determine if accountability makes a difference in my business and personal life. Today, unfortunately, my medical problems took precedence over my business goals.

I’m really not sure what to write today. I’ve been struggling with stomach pain, saw the doctor today, and have some exploratory tests scheduled for later this week.

I’ve also been dealing with ankle problems. I saw the MRI report today and it confirmed there will be a heavy-duty brace or cast in my near future.

It’s been a lot to take in. I feel like there are a lot of medical unknowns at this point. Although I did spend a few hours on my book today, every other commitment took a backseat to my medical drama. Hopefully I’ll have settled down tomorrow and come up with a new game plan.

 

Accountability Experiment Day 13: Soft Addictions

Soft Addiction ImageToday is Day 13 of my accountability experiment. I am trying to determine whether accountability is beneficial in my business and personal life.

The timing of this experiment was a little unfortunate, since I’ve been focusing on a single work commitment (finishing writing a book). I find it easy to be successful when I’m working on a single project, even if it hasn’t gone as quickly as I anticipated. Once the book is complete, I have an additional 16 items to finish before October 10th.

For now, the focus has been on instituting some healthy habits in my life — exercise, taking vitamins, and keeping daily track of my finances. Yesterday’s medication reaction has left me with stomach pain,  so I didn’t want the stress of vitamins on my fragile stomach. I did do some moderate stretching and updated my finances. For what it’s worth, I was going to play the sick card and not do my finances, then decided that I’d rather take the 2 minutes needed then ‘fess up to not doing it.

I’ve been reading a book called The Soft Addiction Solution. The author, Judith Wright, considers “hard addictions” to be alcohol and drug abuse. This book talks about soft addictions, which are behaviors we use to zone out. This includes watching too much TV, procrastinating and overeating. I’m sure everyone has soft addictions … I know that I am guilty of all three at various points. I think that admitting these addictions, and then setting limits via the accountability process, could be very helpful.

This afternoon I received an email that Call the Midwife (Season 3) was available on Netflix. I spent about 8 hours today working on my book, so tonight am ready for zoning out in front of the television.

To Be Done Before October 10, 2014

  1. Send Proposal for Blogging workshop — DONE
  2. Finish “Make Time to Blog Workbook” — IN PROCESS
  3. Choose price for workbook
  4. Print test copy of workbook
  5. Investigate printing options and have small amount print
  6. Choose compelling name for free coaching session
  7. Add opt-in box to website header
  8. Add additional security/backup to website
  9. Add additional analytics code to website
  10. Add payment module to website
  11. Create new website with squeeze page
  12. Film short video for squeeze page
  13. Add 5 part freebie course to aWeber
  14. Add book sale to aWeber
  15. Add free coaching session to aWeber
  16. Finish elevator speech
  17. Develop free coaching session coupon for attendees at conference
  18. Keep blog posts are up to date — DONE

Daily

  • Stretch and strengthen — NO
  • Elliptical
  • Daily walks (weather permitting) — NO
  • Update finances — DONE
  • Vitamins — NO
  • Healthy snacks — NO

 

Accountability Experiment Day 12: Positive and Negative

stomacoToday is Day 12 of my accountability experiment. I’m trying to determine whether accountability is beneficial in my business and personal life.

Yesterday was a no-work day as I prepared for my son’s visit home from college. It was great to see him, if only for a few hours. I made up for yesterday’s slacking by working hard today. I’m happy to report I made great progress on my book.

For the last 11 days, I’ve done really well with my personal commitments — including a recent commitment to eat only healthy snacks. Unfortunately I’m having a lot of stomach pain, due to a reaction to a new medication. All I wanted to eat were crackers, which were on my no-no list. I ended up eating quite a few crackers but avoided my more toxic choice (potato chips) and spoke to the doctor about discontinuing this medication.

It is abundantly clear to me that there’s a difference between eating crackers when I need something easy on my stomach and eating crackers when I’m bored. However the whole situation is getting frustrating, since I’d started snacking to deal with a previous medication that was causing nausea.

As a result of my stomach pain, I also did not take my vitamins or exercise. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow and get back on course. I recognize that expecting to have a perfect 30-day record is setting myself up for failure. Life happens. I will be successful if I deal with the down-times and continue moving forward the following day.

To Be Done Before October 10, 2014

  1. Send Proposal for Blogging workshop — DONE
  2. Finish “Make Time to Blog Workbook” — In Process
  3. Choose price for workbook
  4. Print test copy of workbook
  5. Investigate printing options and have small amount print
  6. Choose compelling name for free coaching session
  7. Add opt-in box to website header
  8. Add additional security/backup to website
  9. Add additional analytics code to website
  10. Add payment module to website
  11. Create new website with squeeze page
  12. Film short video for squeeze page
  13. Add 5 part freebie course to aWeber
  14. Add book sale to aWeber
  15. Add free coaching session to aWeber
  16. Finish elevator speech
  17. Develop free coaching session coupon for attendees at conference
  18. Keep blog posts are up to date — DONE

Daily — Not Done

  • Stretch and strengthen —
  • Elliptical
  • Daily walks (weather permitting)
  • Update finances
  • Vitamins
  • Healthy snacks

 

 

 

Accountability Experiment Day 11: Setting Goals

smart goal setting conceptToday is Day 11 of my accountability experiment. I am trying to determine if accountability is helpful in my business and personal life.

So far, I have made big changes personally (which are covered in previous posts). However my working hours have been focused on finishing a book, so — other than keeping me focused on a single task — the accountability hasn’t played a big role in my business.

My goal was to have my book complete by Monday, September 22. I spent yesterday doing some additional research that I hadn’t anticipated, which put me behind schedule. My son is home from college for the weekend, so I’m excited to see him tonight after very little contact over the last six weeks. (And by “little contact” I mean not a single phone call or text in the last two weeks!)

With my son due home shortly, I was wondering if my accountability experience would motivate me to put in a full day of writing. Nope. I did some housekeeping and some baking. I even watched a TV show with my daughter. I did accomplish my personal goals (exercise, finances and vitamins), but otherwise felt like I was on vacation.

I think the problem may not be the accountability process. It is the way I set my goals. “Finish my book” was a lofty goal and, when I set it, I hadn’t worked on the project for months. I really had no idea how much time it would take. A better goal would have been “to spend 75 hours, over the next two weeks, working on my book.” That would have been something that was under my control.

I realize that a lot of my recent goals have been about outcomes, which I could not really control. Sure I want to “lose 5 pounds in 48 hours.” But a better goal would be to walk at least 2 miles per day, at least 5 days per week. That is under my control and I’m able to be successful.

The personal goals I set were controllable. My goal was not “to have a normal Vitamin D level on my December blood tests.” My goal was to take my vitamins every morning. Until I get more feedback via the blood tests, that’s all I can do.

I will be working over the weekend and hope my book will be done. If not, I’ll be talking to my coach on Monday. I’m going to change my “finish my book” goal to committing to six hours per day of writing until it’s complete.

To Be Done Before October 10, 2014

  1. Send Proposal for Blogging workshop — Done
  2. Finish “Make Time to Blog Workbook” — In Process
  3. Choose price for workbook
  4. Print test copy of workbook
  5. Investigate printing options and have small amount print
  6. Choose compelling name for free coaching session
  7. Add opt-in box to website header
  8. Add additional security/backup to website
  9. Add additional analytics code to website
  10. Add payment module to website
  11. Create new website with squeeze page
  12. Film short video for squeeze page
  13. Add 5 part freebie course to aWeber
  14. Add book sale to aWeber
  15. Add free coaching session to aWeber
  16. Finish elevator speech
  17. Develop free coaching session coupon for attendees at conference
  18. Keep blog posts are up to date — Done

Daily

  • Stretch and strengthen — Done
  • Elliptical
  • Daily walks (weather permitting) — Will be done later
  • Update finances — Done
  • Vitamins — Done
  • Healthy snacks — So far today