Find Your Accountability and Visioning Team

The Big Dream is hard to achieve when you don’t have anyone but yourself to rely on. You need strength, talent, and motivation to fulfill your desires, but self-will can only get you so far.  If you want to be successful in realizing your Big Dream, you better have a few key people in your corner.

Just watch an Oscar speech and you’ll get an idea of just how many people it takes to make one person reach their Big Dream. Friends, family, colleagues, technology crews, and even wardrobe people become essential in making something as simple as acting work.

Who will you need to rely on to make your Big Dream come to fruition? Are you strong enough to ask for help? Who can you trust to give you honest feedback and keep you on point? Because let’s face it, the road to success is too difficult to navigate on your own. There are twists in the road, surprising perils, and unforeseen challenges on the way to The Big Dream.

You need help.

You need advice.

You need directions.

What you need is an accountability team.

Accountability team
An accountability team might be small (one person might be all you really need) or comprehensive (a handful of friends and colleagues who you trust), and be available to you for advice, perspective, mentoring, and  guidance. The quantity of helpers isn’t nearly important as the quality of the people, because these individuals will demand that you stay true to your word and deliver on your promises. They must be strong-willed folk who won’t be distracted by excuses and will call your bluff. Your accountability team must be trust worthy, true to their word, and able to offer insightful advice that will push you to go further than you thought you could.

If you think you might want or need an accountability team, the first step is to identify The Big Dream. Got it? Great. Next up, decide if you are ready to make the commitment to support someone else on their road to success. If you can’t give 100 per cent to someone else, then there’s no expecting someone to give the same to you. Accountability teams only work if both parties are willing to put in the hard work. Are you prepared to show up prepared, ready, and excited every time you make an accountability date?  Are you prepared to be accountable for the things you say you’re going to do?

Reaching out to others to ask for help and guidance isn’t always an easy thing to do. You’ll have to be vulnerable. You’ll need to have trust or faith in the people you turn to. You’ll have to be willing to take advice. You’ll need to share secrets or  personal information. You’ll have to be humble enough to accept critical suggestions and feedback. You’ll have to give credit to others for their help.

Accountable Accountability

Back in June, I went on a blogging trip to New Orleans. During my time there I met lots of great people, including one very special person in particular. That person was Maggy Keet, the lovely and effervescent woman who is part of the team behind the Big Summer Potluck and is a one-third contributor to her family’s website, Three Many Cooks. Maggy is, if you’ve never met her, like the holy grail of goodness. She just overflows with excitement, drive, and talent.

While riding a tour bus to a distant oyster farm, Maggy and I got to talking about our Big Dreams. She shared her vision for the non-profit organization, Bloggers without Borders. I spoke about a newly formed idea for a big event dedicated to the topic of living a life of service.  We shared with each other plenty of insights and inspiration in just the time it took to reach that oyster farm. While other people were napping, we were spit-balling concepts and plans with lightening speed. I couldn’t keep my pen moving fast enough to take notes in my notebook.

It wasn’t long before Maggy leaned in real close and said, “Do you want to be my accountability buddy?”

Her excitement and commitment took my breath away. Never had I met someone with such drive and passion this eager to take part in the visioning process of building The Big Dream. The girl was full of ideas I could use.

Before we left NOLA, the two of us exchanged numbers and set a date to talk about our goals and the work ahead of us. I marked my calendar and crossed my fingers in hopes that my new partner in dream-building would be as accountable as she said she’d be.

I’m here to tell you folks, that Maggy Keet is all that and more. Together, we’re making our dreams come true in two-week accountability dates at a time.

Maggy’s POV

I jokingly call Brooke my accountability buddy, which I have shortened to ‘accountabili-buddy.’ But the truth is, she’s so much more. She doesn’t just hold me accountable. She is helping me to find my path. And I’d like to think that I’m doing the same for her.

My relationship with Brooke is now one of the most important in my life.

These bi-weekly calls have helped to get me out of my own head. One of the biggest steps towards unearthing my dream is to verbalize long terms goals and the short term tasks that will get me there. Brooke holds me accountable to all that, keeps me focused and on track and offers valuable insights.  And if when my non-profit becomes a success, I will owe a great deal to Brooke for her support and guidance through this process.

What I’m saying is this: we all have dreams. Some people live their dream from the start. But for most of us these dreams get buried under the layers of ash and rock that life keeps piling on.

I struggled with this Big Dream of mine for a long time and this is the first thing that has truly worked and kept me moving toward my goal. So find someone to work with. Find your Brooke. Preferably someone who also has a goal. And work together.

Do you have a big project that you need an accountability partner on?

Where have you found your visioning partners?