In this episode Accountability Coach and Author of "Why Not You," Amanda McKinney shares tips, tools and resources with VEST Members on how to achieve goals through discipline and accountability systems. We also talk about the struggle we all grapple with: self-doubt, fear of failure, and decision fatigue. We share strategies to overcome these barriers and discuss how honesty about our fears and seeking support from trusted individuals can be game-changers.
We delve into how tracking progress and finding support networks can supercharge your success. We unpack the science behind accountability and its effectiveness, and discuss various levels of accountability - from using technology as a tool for repeatable actions, to investing in a coach or program. Amanda also shares how to set and track goals effectively, and provides a comprehensive guide to managing your time and boosting productivity.
About Amanda McKinney
Amanda is an Accountability Coach, Podcast Host (The Unapologetic Entrepreneur), and Best Selling Author (Why Not You? An Accidental Entrepreneur’s Guide To Success) on a mission to help passionate accidental entrepreneurs make progress towards creating a profitable and productive business that they’re proud of. Amanda is also a recognized thought leader and coach on Accidental Entrepreneurship & Accountability, author of Amazon Best Seller, Why Not You? An Accidental Entrepreneur’s Guide To Success and host of The Unapologetic Entrepreneur Podcast. She has personally helped hundreds of passionate, yet doubtful, entrepreneurs from around the globe step through self-doubt and create the business that integrates into their life instead of taking it over. She is the founder of a self-built, profitable and debt-free business and it’s through this experience along with her Masters degree from the University of Florida and past corporate experience that she is widely regarded by passionate female entrepreneurs. As an accountability coach she helps entrepreneurs navigate self-doubt and life’s twists and turns so they can continue to make continued progress towards their business goals.
Show Notes
About VEST
VEST is an investment fund and peer network for women. We invest in women-led companies providing solutions that enable employers to build more inclusive workspaces and support women's labor force participation. We also connect and provide executive coaching to women professionals across industries, regions and career levels so that together we can build the future of inclusive workspaces. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co
If you enjoyed the episode share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. If you are ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Check out our VEST Membership and apply today! www.VESTHer.co
In this episode Accountability Coach and Author of "Why Not You," Amanda McKinney shares tips, tools and resources with VEST Members on how to achieve goals through discipline and accountability systems. We also talk about the struggle we all grapple with: self-doubt, fear of failure, and decision fatigue. We share strategies to overcome these barriers and discuss how honesty about our fears and seeking support from trusted individuals can be game-changers.
We delve into how tracking progress and finding support networks can supercharge your success. We unpack the science behind accountability and its effectiveness, and discuss various levels of accountability - from using technology as a tool for repeatable actions, to investing in a coach or program. Amanda also shares how to set and track goals effectively, and provides a comprehensive guide to managing your time and boosting productivity.
About Amanda McKinney
Amanda is an Accountability Coach, Podcast Host (The Unapologetic Entrepreneur), and Best Selling Author (Why Not You? An Accidental Entrepreneur’s Guide To Success) on a mission to help passionate accidental entrepreneurs make progress towards creating a profitable and productive business that they’re proud of. Amanda is also a recognized thought leader and coach on Accidental Entrepreneurship & Accountability, author of Amazon Best Seller, Why Not You? An Accidental Entrepreneur’s Guide To Success and host of The Unapologetic Entrepreneur Podcast. She has personally helped hundreds of passionate, yet doubtful, entrepreneurs from around the globe step through self-doubt and create the business that integrates into their life instead of taking it over. She is the founder of a self-built, profitable and debt-free business and it’s through this experience along with her Masters degree from the University of Florida and past corporate experience that she is widely regarded by passionate female entrepreneurs. As an accountability coach she helps entrepreneurs navigate self-doubt and life’s twists and turns so they can continue to make continued progress towards their business goals.
Show Notes
About VEST
VEST is an investment fund and peer network for women. We invest in women-led companies providing solutions that enable employers to build more inclusive workspaces and support women's labor force participation. We also connect and provide executive coaching to women professionals across industries, regions and career levels so that together we can build the future of inclusive workspaces. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co
If you enjoyed the episode share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. If you are ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Check out our VEST Membership and apply today! www.VESTHer.co
Hey everyone, this is Erica Lucas, your host and founding member of Vest, an organization connecting women across industries, regions and career levels so that together we can expedite the pipeline of more women in positions of power and influence. Welcome to another episode of the Vestor podcast, where we explore the investable barriers holding women back in the workplace and share stories of women building power collectively.
Speaker 2:You are 95% more likely to succeed by directing accountability to a third party. By having a goal, you're 10% more likely. Consciously deciding that's that internal, you know motivation that's really helpful gets you to 25%. Making a plan is 50,. Committing to someone else is 65, but it's weekly accountability check-ins that gets you to 95%. So the data tells us that if we have accountability, if we know we have accountability in place, we're going to make more strategic decisions. We're going to get to a 95% more likely to succeed if we have weekly check-ins. But in order for accountability to work, we need what's really considered a weaker connection.
Speaker 1:In this episode, accountability coach and author of why Not you? Amanda McKinney, provides VestMember's tips, tools and resources on how to achieve goals through discipline and accountability systems. Special thanks to VestMember and founder of Tinch Beauty, courtney Brooks, for moderating the session. This episode is made possible thanks to our venture arm, vestr Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in women-led companies, building tools, products and services that enable women and working families to try both at work and at home, and by our Vest membership, a community made up of professional women across industries, regions and career levels, working together to create the future of more inclusive workspaces. If you're interested in learning more about Vestr Ventures and Vest Peer Network, go to wwwvesthurtco. If you enjoy the episode, share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. This episode was part of a more intimate coaching session with VestMember's and has been repurposed to accommodate this episode.
Speaker 2:Today we're talking about accountability, and really this is such a sweet moment in time that we get to think about setting goals, because it's the end of the year Now I know this is recorded so you might be watching this in July and you can apply this to July too. But there is a moment at the end of the year that you kind of take a breath to really think about what has happened this year and what am I going forward with. And so I have a few things that, if you're anything like me which I have a strong feeling that all of us could be BFFs, because we are really driven females that wear a lot of hats, and so if you and I are the same, we kind of suck at stopping and pausing and reflecting. We're really good at going forward, we're really good at setting the goal and moving the needle forward on things, but so often we don't take the time to look back, and looking back is the thing that actually sets us up for better success in terms of quicker or more efficient success when we think about our time, which is such a precious thing, and so things of asking, asking yourself things like what worked and what didn't, are typically what we start with. But as you are thinking about this today and going forward, I would also encourage you to think about what has brought you joy and what has brought you stress. I know not everyone here is an entrepreneur like I am, and so a lot of my content on my podcast and my book is all entrepreneurship-based. But all you have to do is think about your professional goals, your personal goals, and I really want to challenge you to go a little bit deeper than just the metric because, again, we're really driven people. So we look at things like ROI and we think about things like did this give me the financial success that I was looking for? But I want you to think about what brought you joy and stress a little bit deeper than that when you're reflecting.
Speaker 2:So one of the things that Courtney said when she introduced me was that we get together once a month, and several years ago I really started asking myself what brings me joy and what brings me stress. And what brings me a lot of stress is packing my calendar back to back with things. I'm sure you can all relate when you're running from one thing to the other, whether it's virtual or in person. That is really stressful for me. Maybe it's great for you, but I try not to do that anymore but one of the things that I found that brought me tremendous joy in my heart and in my life was having long lunches with friends and finding those people who can fill your cup, and so that was something that I prioritized. And all of us are really busy. We all have things that just our calendars get packed, especially this time of the year. But what I realized was that having a long lunch with Courtney and other people that fill my cup actually made me more successful in the long run, because I had the quality of life and the joy, and so I really want you to think about that as you're reflecting on the end of this year and going forward is not just the metrics but what gives you that quality of life.
Speaker 2:And I like to say that I learned just as much from my clients as they learned from me, and so this last question actually came from one of my clients that is really good at self-reflection, and she would come to me and she would tell me these things and whatever was going on in her life, and I thought how in the world did she come to this? And she told me this question that she reflects on every year, which is when things felt like they were really in flow. What contributed to that happening? And I thought, gosh, what a beautiful question that is. And so I'll give Katie that shout out because I did not come up with this question. But what a great question, and these questions don't have to be the perfect ones for you, but hopefully it gets you started and it gets you thinking about how can you reflect on what's happened this year so that you can do more of what brings you joy as you go forward and achieve these goals.
Speaker 2:So one thing that maybe you're thinking about now, or you've thought about previously, is what's hindered you, and I would love for you to put some things in the chat Now I don't have the chat open right now, but I will and what I'd like to see is what's hindered you from achieving a goal, and I want you to be really courageous and share this, because it's something that we need to figure out, and I really realized that I was wrong about this very recently, because first and maybe you're like me and you say this as well what I always said was lack of time, and I would say I don't have time, and the reality is we're all busy, and so time is something that we have to work with. But what I realized was that somehow, when I really, really, really, really wanted something, I somehow found the time to figure it out. And I had to get really honest with myself, and this was really brought to light when I published my book. So people ask me all the time how in the world did you get these things done? And for some reason, the book was one thing that, as soon as I told people I was writing a book, they were like how in the world are you doing this? And it was especially those people like Courtney and my life who know more about my life than just what's on Instagram. And so what Courtney knows, and you're about to know as well, is that as soon as I started to write my book, my father-in-law got really, really sick and we moved him in.
Speaker 2:And not only was I the entrepreneur running a business, a wife, a stepmom, a friend, all of these things I became a full-time caregiver which, by the way, I realized I'm not that great at, but I did it right. Like, sometimes we just have to put on those hats and do the thing because life happens. But somehow in those months that we had him living at our home, I also finished the first draft of my book. So I wrote a little over 30,000 words in three months.
Speaker 2:When I tell people that they're like how in the world and you're seeing a few snapshots of how I did that is I went really off script for my typical ideal life of waking up. I'm a morning person, so I do really well in the morning, but I'm also in bed typically by 8.30 or 9 o'clock. Like I'm not a night person at all. But you're seeing pictures here of me writing at night, and what you don't see because I don't have pictures of it, is me writing when I was sitting next to him on the couch and I would write seven minutes at a time before he needed something else or whatever it was. And so I realized in this experience that time wasn't the problem. What really hinders me personally is if I'm pursuing a goal that I think I should versus the one I really want, and I realized very quickly that I wanted to write that dang book because I was figuring it out.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. There's so many good chat notes here. So first, self-doubt, fear of failure, saying yes to things that I don't really enjoy doing, but do it out of guilt. Fear of the unknown, prioritizing the wrong tasks my own self-doubt time, personal fear spreading myself too thin, decision fatigue, lack of planning and accountability, not feeling prepared, poor communication, improper prioritizing, having unclear objectives, fear of failure and letting others down. Self-doubt and fear of failure, letting go of control. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:You all showed up. This is like the best group chat I've ever been a part of. Thank you so much. I feel like sometimes it's really hard to be honest and to share Like. I'm really loving this group right now, so thank you for that man.
Speaker 2:Self-doubt over commitment, fear of it not working out my gosh. I was just on a podcast I think it was like two weeks ago. It was released about what if it doesn't work out. It's something I talk about all the time because it's really hard, because the answer really is it's probably not going to work out how we think. So that fear comes into play pretty quickly and the reality is we just have to push through and keep going, and you've done it so many times. If you look back on what's worked and what's not, and when you've achieved things, the path was never probably what you thought it would be, but you somehow made it there. But it's so hard to push through that fear and keep going. It's so hard. So thank you for being honest about what hindered you in figuring out how to achieve a goal, because when you know what hinders you, you can actually create the successful experience. On the other end, because you're honest about what's hindering you. And so on the other side of that, once you know what's hindering you, asking yourself what's helped you. So I'd love to we'll do that exercise in the chat again of what's helped you and I'll share my experience as you're putting things into the chat and I would love for you to reflect on maybe a time. So I'm going to use self-doubt as one, because several people said that maybe there's been a time where you did have self-doubt. How did you push through? What helped you in that experience? That you felt it but you kept going. So what hindered you in that specific experience is going to be really helpful when you dig in. And so for me, I'm going to take that publishing experience because we've already talked about it and I'll bring forward the things that helped me actually publish the book, and it was that I committed to a goal that I truly wanted. It was intrinsically motivating. This is something that I could go on a whole other session about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, and it's something that I continue to learn about because it's so helpful when I work with people, but when we have an intrinsic motivation for something. So I really wanted to write this book, for I mean sure I'd love for it to make me a millionaire, but that wasn't the reason. I wanted to publish the book, like that would be a cool benefit, but that was never the goal. It was not the goal at all. It was to speak to the person that I remember.
Speaker 2:I was in 2017 when I was trying to start a business and scared out of my dang mind, right. I didn't know what to do and I needed to put one foot in front of the other and I wanted to build a business that integrated into my life, instead of just taking it over and me over committing another one of those things that hinders us all the time, and so I really wanted to do that. I was intrinsically motivated to support even just one person in this experience. I also joined a program.
Speaker 2:I did not know how to write a book and I knew I could not do that on my own because it was a brand new experience. So I needed the accountability, and you heard me say I wrote X number of words. It was actually a little over 30,000. But the thing here is that I tracked it. I found a metric that was really motivating all the way through, because, as you see that number go up. It's very, very helpful, and so, no matter what my goal is, I always find a metric now, and sometimes it's a number, like a revenue goal or something like that, but sometimes it's time spent on something and learning something spending that time. So I'd love to know what works for you. Courtney, would you like to share what's in the chat?
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely. There are so many great things here. Erica said one thing no into letting go of control. Perrin one-on-one conversations with people I trust. Sue being open about struggles. Michelle said getting outside perspective on what I am stuck on. Perrin also said blocking off at least one hour of focused time each day. I love that. Jay said intentional rest. Jennifer working through my fears with a trusted friend or my husband. Perrin deciding not to schedule any meetings on Mondays before noon. I love that.
Speaker 3:Might have to steal that one. Stephanie, a great mentor and thought partner, getting into routine every day and allowing time for breaks and breakdowns Wow, that's good. Erica, only doing 15 and 30 minute meetings. Bella, realizing that small failures are okay and it is something you can grow from so powerful.
Speaker 3:Kendra said what's helped me most is getting honest about fears and sharing those goals and fears with those that I trust and really trying to take in and listen to their encouragement, reminding me who I am and what I bring to the table. They're great about holding the mirror up for me to see what I was too afraid to see. Also, I truly learned that being busy is not a personality. That's so good. I love that. One Delegating and then delegating more and then delegating more, setting up a plan and routine, but also establishing my why, checking in on how I'm feeling, being mindful that sometimes things aren't going to go perfectly, so being okay with that and going easy on myself. And then Shelley had a question to you about can you speak more about finding tracking metrics? I have a hard time breaking down goal.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, that is so good. Can I put a pin in that until the end, because I have a lot to share on that and that'll take us on a tangent and I will not finish what I'm actually supposed to say, but I would love to tackle that one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, awesome, that sounds so good and in the meantime it's so exciting to see what people are saying in the chat, so I love that.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, you all are so good. You all are so good with really engaging and interacting. Thank you for being so open with what's helped you. I love how many of you talked about sharing and talking to other people, those trusted advisors, whomever it is in your life. That is so incredibly helpful. We have to do that and find that support, whatever it is in your life, to take that next step, because we need to be reminded of things Again, it's part of all of our personalities most likely of moving forward, but we don't take that time to remember what we've actually done. So that's really helpful to have mirrored and told to us sometimes. So what I have found.
Speaker 2:I've worked with clients now for six years as a coach and these are the things that I've really boiled down into what has helped people and you all talked about all of them but it's really setting realistic goals that you care about, because you can pursue anything, but if you don't care about it, you're going to be miserable even if you get it. So really pursuing something that you care about, tracking and celebrating progress which I'm super pumped that someone asked me about that and talking about tracking metrics so we'll come back to that one and finding the support you need in that accountability, and there's different levels that I'll share with you that I've realized that are super helpful, but chances are so many of us including myself can hear stories, can hear examples of things that have worked for other people, but in the back of our mind we'll say, sure, it worked for her, but it won't work for me. And so what I have found is that when this comes up for me, and often when it comes up for my clients, relying on data and science is a really cool tool to do so. I'm going to give you some things that you can pull out of your back pocket when your mind tells you that, because science tells us accountability does work and it will work for you, no matter what your circumstance is. And so the first study that I want to bring your attention to is from Science Direct back in 1999, and it talks about how, if someone knows that they will have to justify a decision in front of other people it says audience here, but it doesn't have to be an audience, it can be an accountability buddy the likelihood that you'll make the right decision for you is significantly higher. That's pretty amazing, just knowing that if you have someone that you're going to talk to, that friend you're going to have lunch with that trusted advisor that you're going to talk to. If you know that they'll ask you why do you want to pursue that? That you are going to make a better decision for yourself. Just knowing that is so incredibly helpful. So you're already set up for success because you know you're going to have to explain something. In a kind way it's not like they're going to be mean to you you just have to explain why you want it.
Speaker 2:And then the American Society of Training and Development found that get ready for this. You are 95% more likely to succeed by directing accountability to a third party. When I read this I was like holy bananas, this is the thing that I need to dig into, because I could not believe it was proved by science. I was like I've seen this work in everyday life, but this is really happening. And so they actually did a stair step here.
Speaker 2:By having a goal, you're 10% more likely Really deciding. That's that internal motivation that's really helpful Get you to 25%. Making a plan is 50. Committing to someone else is 65. But it's weekly accountability check-ins that gets you to 95%. Pretty incredible, because if I said to you, if you and I were sitting and chatting and I said I can get you to 95% more likely to achieve your goal, you'd say take all my money and tell me what to do, amanda, right, like that is exactly what you would do. And here it is, like the answer is a weekly check-in, which is really cool, and I'm going to give you all the tools you need for it today, which is my favorite part, and so that you can move forward with this and achieve the goal that you really want to.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if you've heard of the Huberman Lab podcast. I am a huge fan of his podcast and, because I'm a dad and nerd, he is a Stanford professor and he is in the neuroscience and so it's all about the brain. These are like you go to a college class that they're like between one and three hour episodes. One of them is like the length is really long but you learn so much. And so he talked about in the Goals Toolkit episode that when you announce your goal to someone and just like, tell someone, like I'm going to run a marathon, I'm going to exercise five days a week or whatever it is when you announce it typically this is on social media or to a group of people that you immediately get a dopamine hit because people are encouraging and that's exactly what you wanted.
Speaker 2:People are going to say, yeah, go, that's awesome, you can do it. You get a dopamine hit. Well, the problem is, our brain wants more dopamine hits. This is how we have addictions, and so we actually diminish the probability that we will take those actions when we start with this, because if we announce I'm going to do this thing this year and then we get the dopamine hit, and then on Monday morning, when we need to put those shoes on and it's snowing and we need to go on that run, we don't have the dopamine hit when we need it, and so it can really throw our brain off.
Speaker 2:However, he goes on to say that accountability, having an accountability buddy, that there is a person who is going to ask you the question did you do what you said you were going to do? That is what will help you. That's the thing that will help you. It's not bad to tell people what your goal is. It's just that you have to be strategic and know that you need to have someone that's going to say did you do what you said you were going to do, and that's where it comes in. So the data tells us that if we have accountability, if we know we have accountability in place, we're going to make more strategic decisions. We're going to get to a 95% more likely to succeed if we have weekly check-ins. But in order for accountability to work, we need what's really considered a weaker connection.
Speaker 2:Several of you mentioned talking to your spouse or best friend or mentor, that sort of thing. Those are all really helpful, but you have to find an accountability buddy that's going to ask you the hard question and push you a little bit more. Because if I told my husband, hey, honey, I want to drink 64 ounces of water a day and I made it to 34 ounces or something, and he would be like it's okay, you can try again tomorrow. He's a very supportive person. He's not going to be a jerk to me, right Like he's going to be encouraging. However, if I told an accountability buddy, I want to drink 64 ounces of water a day, but I made it to 34, the accountability buddy is going to say what stopped you so that we can make it better tomorrow. So you have to be really careful with who that person is, but it really helps you.
Speaker 2:So I want to quickly talk about the different levels of accountability, because this is where you're all bought in for accountability and you're like, how do I make it happen for you? And so the different levels that I have identified and this is all my thoughts, and so, from what I understand from myself and analyzing what has really helped, I've come up with three levels. We can have accountability through tools, accountability through connection and accountability through payment, and I'm going to talk about all three of these and I'll be very clear and say I use all three every day, so it's not like you can only use one, but what you have to identify is what level do I need to achieve this very specific goal? It'll make more sense when I explain it, but all of them are great. There's not one that's better than the other.
Speaker 2:So accountability through tools is using the technology and tools that we have access to to help us. It's not another human being, it's another piece of technology, and so technology can drive us crazy sometimes, but it can really help us as well, and so having a tool, a piece of technology to help you is great for repeatable actions. So I told you, I have a podcast. I've had the podcast for three plus years, and so a weekly episode comes out every week and I don't need someone to ask me if I'm going to do it. I have a repeatable process that I use in every single Monday. If you go to your podcast app and you've subscribed, you'll see another episode from me. You can set your clock by it. They happen at four o'clock in the morning, so don't check it at four o'clock in the morning, but they're released every single week without fail, and it's because I have a tool in place that helps me do that.
Speaker 2:I use a project management tool, and that's my suggestion for you. Calendars are great for things like meetings, but for those repeatable tasks in your business and your life, a project management tool is amazing. I use it for everything, including, like grocery shopping, so I use it across the board. For myself, I use a tool called ClickUp. Everyone always asks me what I use, so I always tell them now. But there are so many out there Asana, trello, basecamp, monday I could list probably 20 right now.
Speaker 2:Find the one that works for you, put blinders on and don't worry about the rest of them, because they all work just slightly different, but they all do the same thing, and so find the one that works for you. But this is something. This is the level you'll want. If something is repeatable, if something is not new or nerve-wracking, if it is scary to you, if it is a little out of your comfort zone, a piece of technology is usually not the answer. You're going to need a little bit more for that. So that brings me to level two, which is connection.
Speaker 2:This is using another person or group of people to help you follow through with what you said you were going to do. This is a great when you are slightly out of your comfort zone or it's something that you want to do and someone else is doing something similar. So, let's say, courtney and I have decided that we both, independently, want to grow our email list in our business, and so we decide to meet every single week to say, hey, this is what I did to grow my email list this week, this is what worked, this is what didn't. I'm going to do this next week, and that's all we'd have to do is check in with one another, like that. She's doing the same thing. We can learn from one another. So if you're doing something similar. It's just really fun to do things together and you can learn and try different things. So my suggestion here is find someone, invest. You have an amazing group right here that you can say, like I mean, put it in the chat. If you're looking for someone, put it in the chat right now and start connecting, because you have a group of people who are more than willing to be the accountability buddy that you need. You don't have to be doing the same thing, but you can be. So find the person that you need, because you have the group already here. Then the next level is accountability through payment. Just being very honest, we all need this at some point.
Speaker 2:This is when you say you're going to do something and you just don't do it, but you really want it. My example of this is Pinterest. I wanted to learn Pinterest and how it could help me grow my business, and I said this for an entire year I'm not kidding Every quarter I had it on the list. I'm gonna learn and implement Pinterest in my business, but I was not doing it, and I don't know why I wasn't doing it at that time, but I wasn't doing it. I was spending time on other things, but I truly wanted to learn Pinterest and have it implemented in my business. So then I was like, well, I'm not doing it myself, I'm going to hire someone to help me figure this out. And so I had to find someone and invest my money in order to move the needle forward.
Speaker 2:So if you've been trying to do something and you haven't done it and you really want to do it like that's the key, you have to really want the thing, want the result. Find a coach, find a live program, find something to help you, and when you pay like you've probably heard this before when people pay, they pay attention. Well, I'll take it a step further and say, yes, you pay attention, you also take action because you have something holding you accountable, and it's not just another person. It is another person, but it's also your financial investment, which hurts a little bit more when we don't follow through. So my suggestion is to find a coach or a live program, like a mastermind or a program that will help you achieve whatever it is that you want. Now I always give the caveat with this of this is not a course or a template that if there's not a live component to it, it will not have the accountability in it. Courses are awesome I'm a huge fan of digital courses and learning but if you aren't following through, you need a live component, so there's got to be something in there that you can have one-on-one call. There's live coaching calls or some sort or it's more of a mastermind type of a feel. So I'd love for you to take a moment. You can share it in the chat or not.
Speaker 2:This is really up to you is to really think about what you want to do in 2024, whatever that is that's on your heart right now. What level of accountability do you need in place? Because that's the thing that's going to move. The needle forward is whatever level of accountability you need. You have to identify it, be honest, and it will change over time.
Speaker 2:When I first started my podcast, I needed a human to help me figure it out. I didn't know how to start a podcast and I definitely didn't know what all needed to happen to get it to go live, so I did need a different level. I needed the coach. Now, three years later, I don't need a podcast coach anymore. I need the tool that helps me have a repeatable task. So things do change. So find whatever you need right now and something that, if you start to listen to my podcast or learn from me in any way, you'll notice, I always give a next step.
Speaker 2:I never want someone to walk away from working with me or listening to me and not know what to do, because I love for progress to happen. I love for you to move the needle forward. I don't want you to just listen and not know what to do. And so the next step, no matter what level it is that you need, and then, after I share this, we can talk about questions and everything that you have, but it is the weekly check-ins. This is getting you to the 95%. If you wanna achieve a goal in 2024, which is why we're talking about this today if you're moving forward and thinking this is what I wanna do, whatever it is, and 2024, I want you to get there and I want you to be 95% more likely to achieve it. And so it's weekly check-ins that you have to have. It can be with yourself or it can be with someone else. So deciding what level you need and then creating that weekly check-in. So if you chose, if you needed only level one, which is you're gonna use the technology and the tools. Then you have to have your check-in by yourself, which is fine.
Speaker 2:I do this every single Friday and what you can do is create a form and a reminder I use Google Forms, but you can use Type Form or any kind of form that you want and a reminder in your project management tool or your calendar to actually fill out the form. And so for me, for the things I do this every single Friday, just to have a check-in, is you wanna create the form and a reminder and then every single week, whatever, whenever you wanna do it is you fill it out. So for me, it's Friday mornings, if you are going with level two or level three, you wanna schedule your weekly call. So you gotta find that group, find that buddy and get it on the call. Get a call on the calendar, find your coach, find the program that you need, whatever it is, and get those on your calendar so it actually happens, and then implementing this weekly.
Speaker 2:So you're probably thinking what questions do I ask myself every single week? And I have a form for you. It's actually, or I have a PDF to give you that. If you would like this, go to my website. It's amandamacinneycom for its last weekly and you'll be able to download this PDF. It has all of the questions in it that I ask myself every single week, and this is going to put you on my email list, but you can unsubscribe at any time. I always give that caveat. I'm not trying to trick anyone into anything. This is just already on my website, so it was the easiest way for me to get it to you, but you can unsubscribe anytime, and then what you'll do is you'll ask yourself these questions every single week so that you can move the needle forward on whatever it is that you want to achieve next year.
Speaker 2:And so, before we dive into questions, I want to leave you with something that I always like to say to everyone, and it is I believe in you. I have no idea what's on your heart right now. I have no idea what you want to accomplish and what you want to do in 2024. But what I do know is that it would not be on your heart if you couldn't do it. The path is gonna look weird, it's gonna be different. You're gonna hit some roadblocks. I can assure you all of these things, but I know that you can get there, and I want you to remember that when you don't feel like you, can you have someone who believes in you, and it is me, and I believe in you 100%. If I can support you in any way, I am always here to talk about those options and to give you the encouragement, but I want you to remember that you can do this. You've got this for sure.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Amanda. That was so helpful and I cannot wait to get your guide and dive into kind of those weekly touch points and questions. The chat was lighting up most the entire time and I'm just so inspired and ready to tackle 2024. And wanted to circle back first to Shelley's question. And, Shelley, did we get your question answered on speaking more about finding tracking metrics? Her question was can you speak more about finding tracking metrics? Do you have a hard time breaking down goals?
Speaker 5:I have a hard time narrowing it down to obtainable goals. It's kind of like there's so many projects going on at once. I just get overwhelmed by that project that I got to tackle each week, by the many projects, and then it's like if I wouldn't get overwhelmed by that, maybe I could chip it off. You know what I'm saying and it's like. So when you said those tracking metrics, I'm like aha, I've got to find my tracking metrics, because I am motivated by that, like if I see the needle moving, you know, I mean, I think everybody is, I don't think it's probably an aha, but so much. But for me it's like I just got to figure out those metrics. I think she hit something there.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you for sharing that. I love when something resonates Like that's always a really fun thing. So I'm going to kind of go a little higher level and then drill down to the metrics. So one thing that I've really identified as helpful and I don't know how you personally set goals and we've been talking about 2024, like I keep saying the whole year, I'm not opposed to yearly and these annual goals that people set and having a yearly intention. They're awesome. But what really, really, really works and I have like tried to see if it didn't work with someone and every single time it does work is setting 90 day goals. If you can look at 90 days versus one year, our brains can achieve, our brains can really think through that. I'm going to take it even a step further. In last week I believe it was last week on the podcast I'll have to look and see if it was. I'm thinking it's episode 219, but don't quote me on that one, I'll have to check it and I talk about how to set a 90-day goal and I go through very detailed information about this and it's really looking at your calendar to see how many days you have to work within 90 days, because you don't have 90 days to achieve a 90-day goal because you're not working on whatever. It is 100% of the time. So we have to take out weekends and doctor's appointments and lunch with friends and all of these things and we have to figure out actually how many days do I have to work on this? And that's the biggest piece, because you said unattainable. One of those words were unattainable. When you set an unattainable goal, we end up feeling like a failure and that's not what we want. But it happens all the dang time and we do it to ourselves all the time. I mean, I did it for so long and then I was like what? I have 32 days and 90 days to work. That's why I was feeling like a failure all this time. So you identify the number of days you have set that goal. Then it's identifying the metric. Now what I've realized and I haven't. There's been a few things that I've seen that I'm like still trying to figure this out. The metrics really are.
Speaker 2:Typically, when I think about business or even personal goals, it's a lot of. It is financial. A lot of people's goals fall into a financial number. So it's either a number of money, number of, like currency you want to make. It's a amount you want to save, amount you want to pay down on debt. That's typically it Like.
Speaker 2:If I had to put a percentage, the majority of people would pick a financial goal and it's a dollar amount if you're in the US, right. The next is usually a percentage, a percent. So sometimes we look at oh, I want to increase my business revenue by 25%, I want to decrease my time spent on Instagram by 25%. There's a percentage, so you can do that. Then there's the catch all for everything else and it's time I want to and I feel like someone even said it in the chat. And now I'm going back and it was like spending one hour, like dedicating one hour to something. That's the next one. It is I will learn about Pinterest for one hour a week or whatever the thing is. It's time spent on a goal. That's typically now. Someone can definitely prove me wrong here and let me know, but those are typically the metrics, financial. So a currency amount, percentage or time.
Speaker 3:What system you use to break down annual goals into quarterly, then monthly, then weekly, monthly and weekly.
Speaker 2:Typically speaking, when I work with 90 days, I then come up with three milestones, because it's 30, 60, 90. So I typically look at that and sometimes it works in that Sometimes it's like milestones of if I want to get to a certain, I want to create a new offering. Then the milestone is really like I got to figure out exactly what that offering is. I then need to test it with some people and then I need to release it. So that would be the three different levels. That may not be 30, 60, 90, but it's the milestone that I would be looking at. Then, each and every week, what I do is ask myself what is the most important project that I can accomplish this week to get me closer to that goal. Every single Monday I ask myself that most important project. What is the most important project? And sometimes that is sleep. I need to prioritize sleep, and I know that sounds really silly, but I think we all know the value when we have a really crappy night of sleep and we're like, okay, I didn't do anything productive today. I was somehow busy all day, but I didn't do anything that was helpful, and so sometimes the most important project is more. It's harder to track, if that makes any sense, but it's the most important thing I can do that week, but it's the most important thing I can do that week. Sometimes it is to block my schedule and not take any calls or whatever the case is, so it's really focusing on what is the most important project that I can do to get me closer to that goal.
Speaker 2:And I even taught this whole thing very recently on how I use my project management system. And this is because Courtney and Amy the three of us who sat at lunch Courtney said Amanda, I just don't know how you do it. Like, tell me how, when something throws you off, what exactly do you do with your calendar? And so I actually taught this. And so it's really asking yourself what's the most important project of the week and then daily. If you have more than two to three things that are the most important thing that you have to do that day, it's probably too many. It sounds really silly, but we've got to. I mean, several of you said over-committing in the chat today, so we have to be realistic with what's important each day.
Speaker 3:So helpful, Amanda. On that note, I would love if you can share a little bit about how you set your calendar up for success. Like to meet your goals every single week Because I know you touched on Friday, so those reminders and just check-ins, but I think the way that you really map your calendar up to just reach success in a week is so mind-blowing and amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, and I like to give the caveat. So I told you I just shared this, I taught it recently in the feedback that I got was like whoa, that was a lot. And so I'm going to actually start today by saying the words that are about to come out of my mouth happened over the last six years, so I did not start with this on day one of running my business. And so the super organized I am very organized, so that's a natural gift that I have. I know that's not a gift everyone has, but it is one of mine, so I am naturally organized. And then I realized what was helpful. So me asking myself what brings me joy, what brings me stress. I ask myself these questions all the time because I can then, on the other side, reflect and say, oh, this is helpful, because I'm about to share my calendar and I was like, can I actually pull this up? Let me see if I can. And I can, so I will show you my calendar, because what I do is I use a combination of a calendar and a project management tool, so my calendar is set up to where I know where to show up every day, like I know exactly what to do. My project management system has my to do, like in my task, what I realized is that I do something different than a lot of people do, which was really interesting for me to understand. And it was actually again one of these lunches like I learned so much from lunches with friends and I realized that most people have a to do list. I have a to day list, so I only know what I'm working on today. Like if you said, my husband, michael, asked me all the time what are you doing tomorrow? And I was like I don't know that answer until I open up, click up, because I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I know things like this, like I knew I was going to do this today, but like, typically speaking, I'm not, I don't focus on it, because I'm focused on today of getting things done, and that's really helpful for me.
Speaker 2:So here's how my week looks on Sundays and now I promise I'll show you my calendar in a minute, but on Sundays, one for one hour I come into my office and I plan for the week and I look at what's in my project management tool that tells me what I'm, because I've already assigned dates to everything, so like there's very specific dates. So I look at it nine times out of 10. I've over committed on Monday. I don't know why I assigned so many dates. I've been doing it on Monday. I don't know why I assigned so many things to Monday, thinking that I'm going to be like a rock star, don't know what I do it. And so I, on Sunday, I open up the whole week and I see, oh my gosh, I have 20 tasks on Monday. That's a ridiculous amount. I should probably spread that out. I then spread everything out. I'm looking at my calendar to see kind of audit like what I'm committed to. And then the week is set and this is something and I'm going to be like that's not possible for me and I didn't think it was possible for me either, but it is. This is a big one Once that date happens on Sunday. So my one hour like Sunday work is what I call it. Nothing gets added to my calendar that week because my week is set and I swore this would not be possible and then I tried it and it actually is.
Speaker 2:Now, if you work for someone else, chances are things might shift a little bit. You don't have a total control of your calendar. I have a little bit more control because I'm running my own company, but the reality is things come up all the time. I have people say hey, amanda, I'd love to meet with you. I can meet with you on Wednesday all the time. And now I just simply say I can do it next week. Here's my availability, Even though I technically have time on Wednesday to do it. I technically have the time, but I've set myself up on Sunday and so it screws everything up for the rest of the day if I throw it off. So that's my Sunday work.
Speaker 2:And then I have themed days. Again. I know like some people are going to hate this and some people are going to like it, and it works for me. If it doesn't work for you, just ignore it. So I have themed days. This is where I'm going to show you my calendar. At the very top here you can see that I have themed days. So Mondays are my creation days. I am more creative at the beginning of the week, so I know if I need to create something. So the PDF you may have downloaded from my website, I created that on a Monday simply because I needed to do something creative.
Speaker 2:Tuesdays, or client days, have a lot more meetings on those days. I do not. I was actually out of town, but this week looks a little different. Wednesdays are content days. Typically speaking, this is when I'm working on my podcast, and so I work on podcast-related tasks. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm always recording. Sometimes I am, but sometimes I'm doing other things. I'm coming up with ideas, I'm researching, I'm doing things to create the content for my business. Thursdays are connection days for me. I had to move a lot this week, so it looks a little different, and that's okay, because life happens. I have coaching calls tomorrow, more so than normal, because I was out of town on Tuesday. Because of that, I then moved everything. Again, life happens. You have to change things, but this is an odd week, but I have connection times. If I know I want to have a coffee date with someone, I put it on Thursday. Always. It's always there.
Speaker 2:Fridays are CEO days, and you're actually seeing this on a very odd week because I say like I do not take meetings on Fridays and I am adamant about that. However, you see a coach and call on my calendar. So I'm calling myself out because I was out of town and it's December and we're trying to pack it in. I promised someone I would get them in, and so I broke my own rule. But the thing that I want to bring attention to here is that it's the exception, not the rule. On Fridays, I do not typically take meetings, and so that's my CEO day. Courtney mentioned something about Friday, and so Fridays are the days where, let's say, on Tuesday, I think of oh, I need to apply for that grant or whatever. I just made that up. I never apply for grants. I have no idea why I even came up with that, but the idea of, like, you think of something on a Tuesday that you need to do Now what I've learned is that if I let that thought turn into an action on Tuesday, it throws my week off.
Speaker 2:Because I've already planned my week.
Speaker 2:I immediately, when I think of something, put it as a task to do on Friday.
Speaker 2:I don't actually do that task on Friday.
Speaker 2:What I do is on Friday mornings.
Speaker 2:The first thing I do on Friday mornings is I fill out my weekly update, my weekly check-in. I do that first. The second thing I do is I look at this massive list of things I do on Fridays, or I've assigned to Friday in my project management tool because when I assign it to Friday it goes out of my brain. Then on Friday morning I then decide okay, when do I want to do that? I assign it to a real date but it captures the idea, so I don't have to think about it anymore that Tuesday it's out of my brain and into a task management system or the project management system. I realize I just gave you a lot of information, but it's learned over time how to manage myself in a way that works. The overall message here is learn how you work best For me. I cannot hold things in my brain. I have to get it out and I cannot have a massive list or I'll never feel like I did enough for the day. I have a two-day list instead of a to-do list.
Speaker 3:I love that so much. Amanda, thank you for sharing. I feel like, personally, so much of my time is dedicated to looming and dooming just in my own internal brain, because that list is really building and building. I love the idea to cast it to Friday and then, on Friday, assign a day to get it done and knock it out. That's so smart.
Speaker 2:I want to hear what you're about to say, courtney, but I'll also make sure I say this is not just work stuff. This is order the birthday gift. Send that card to say thank you to that person. It is anything that pops into my mind. It is not just work.
Speaker 2:I say that because it's easy to try and separate everything and compartmentalize. But let's be honest with ourselves. Us women, we're wearing a lot of hats and it's real freaking hard to do that. It's so hard. You're going to be in a meeting with a whole bunch of people and think about oh shoot, I didn't send that thank you card. Just write it on a piece of paper and put it on that task list later and really do it. Don't beat yourself up for the fact that you thought about buying that birthday gift for the kids party on Saturday in the middle of a meeting. Just write it down, get it on the task list to do, assign it to yourself whenever you need to, because it's all integrated together. Remembering to pick up cheese at the grocery store is equally as important.
Speaker 3:I love that. That's such a great example and so true. Jennifer had a question about your book. Jennifer, do you want to hop off with me?
Speaker 4:No, it's just curious. You had mentioned that you took a class before you wrote your book, and I was very interested in hearing if you had a recommendation on a class to 10. Writing a book is something that's always kind of been on my bucket list.
Speaker 2:Yay. Well, congratulations, jennifer, for saying it out loud. That's a huge accomplishment. I cannot wait to celebrate you publishing that book, no matter how long it takes. It's awesome. I am happy to share that. I will you know what. I can probably just grab it really quick.
Speaker 2:The program I work through is called Manuscripts and it is a book writing program and I highly recommend it. I loved it. It really helped me. I went from idea and just so you know, I did not have a full fledged idea when I joined the program. I just thought I think I want to do this thing. They took me from I think I want to do this thing, but I don't even know all of it to. I published a book within a year. That was a really, really great experience. I don't know when they open up their cohorts, but I just put it in the chat. I do not have any affiliation in terms of like. I'm not getting a kickback if you go into the program at all. I just know I went through it. It was a wonderful experience that I went through and I highly recommend it.