This Is the Number One Reason We Fail to Execute

Do you ever feel like you’ve got all the ideas, you know what to do, you’ve watched the webinars and attended the conference and you’re ready to grow your business, but something keeps getting in the way? I’ve felt it. I finish a conference like Scaling New Heights and I’m fired up. I’m ready to make the changes. I’m ready to become the BEST practice of all time.

Enter life.

Something inevitably comes up. A client has an issue (on a weekend no less) that HAS to be fixed RIGHT NOW! A looming deadline calls for an extra hour or two of work. My best friend calls with a babysitting emergency. Maybe your aging parents need immediate help. None of these are bad. None can be planned for or avoided (except the “looming deadline”). Things will come up, and when they do, the first things to hit the back burner are all the well-made plans for improving my business.

Year after year, conference after conference, webinar after webinar.

What is the leading cause our plans fail? Not lack of a plan. We make those all the time. Not capacity. We make time for the things we want to. The number one reason for the failure of a plan is the failure to execute.

I would go on to say, the number one reason we fail to execute is lack of healthy accountability.

Accountability means being held responsible for our decisions. Ooooh, does that make you cringe a little? I cringed. The very word accountability once made all my guards shoot up. I did not start my own business to be accountable. I was thinking of it all wrong.

You see, accountability doesn’t have to be top down. It can look like someone walking with you, encouraging and coaching you on your journey. Someone who asks what your goals are, helps break those down into bite sized chunks, and checks in on you how you’re doing. They’re on your side as you fight against feelings of failure.

Two years ago, I made a plan and I’ve stuck with it. It has grown, molded, and changed as my journey has continued. I wouldn’t have made it far if I hadn’t chosen to meet regularly with another practice owner who is also on the journey. We made a decision to be there for one another. To hold one another accountable to do the things we said we would do. To encourage growth and push through failures.

If you are like me and you have a plan but life keeps getting in the way, find someone who will be with you on the journey. Find someone who is in a similar season of business as you. Hire a coach or a mentor. Join a group education program like Woodard Institute and find an accountability buddy in one of the classes.

Now that I have seen how a plan can be executed through accountability, I can offer the same to my clients. I will be with them on the journey of their business. I will encourage growth and ask questions. I will listen and be more than “just a bookkeeper.” And don’t you know, they love me for it.