The Investment Of Others

(Next Roomie hang out coming soon  - details at bottom of post!)

As left the gym last Thursday, I couldn't help but smile. It happened again. Another morning where I had to fight to get out of my warm bed and walk 15 minutes to the gym in colder weather than I'd experienced the previous three days in the Bay Area before taking the red-eye home the night before. I didn't want to go. I "needed the sleep" before a big day of coaching.

But then it happened like it does every time I get dressed after a session with Big Mike, I thought to myself, "damn I am really happy I did this." In the 5 months that I've been training with him twice a week, I've never left and regretted it. How wild is that? 100% of the time I am 100% happy I went. There aren't many other things that I can say that about in my life.

But knowing that he's waiting for me is the accountability that I need to get there. Just KNOWING that I am going to be glad that I went isn't enough. Just KNOWING that I need to go as I am working hard to rock my new tuxedo for my wedding in 10 weeks isn't enough. It's knowing that Big Mike is going to be standing at the door of the gym waiting to give me a high five and ask "how you doing Warrior?" - that's what I need to be consistent. I need someone else invested in me doing what I intend to do.

When I was in sales... excuse me, when I was a sales professional (because everyone is in sales. - there are only two types of people in this world, people in sales and people in denial that they are in sales) I had a lot of measurable goals that I worked hard to hit. I had a lot of different ways that I kept myself accountable, but involving others in my goal was always the most consistent way of achieving outcomes that I was proud of and that I could repeat.

For example, I told my girlfriend at the time that I had booked a two-night trip to a winery for us the first weekend of the following month BUT we only got to go if I hit my goal for this month. She hated that. But you better believe that knowing how much I'd disappoint her if I missed that goal was more than enough motivation to make sure I hit it.  Every week I'd share with her that we were on track for our vacation and every week she'd tell me to make sure I didn't let it slip next week. Needless to say, it was a great weekend at the winery the next month.

But, I want to be clear, that simply just telling someone else your goal isn't what I am encouraging you to do. In fact, as Derek Sivers points out in this 3 minute TED Talk from 2010, telling people your goals actually makes you less likely to achieve them!

What I am encouraging you to do is to bring people into the story of our goal and make the outcome personal to them as well. Allow your success to feel like a win for them and your failure to weigh on them as well. In doing so, you will be much more likely to see the repeatable results that you are looking for and will build deeper invested relationships with others looking to do the same.

Roomies: what might I do to have you be more invested in the success of this community?

Use your Roomie superpowers and drop a comment here to let me know! www.makeroom.fm/investment-of-others/

To finish up our month and compare more notes on Accountability, we're planning the next Roomie Meet-Up at 9pm Tuesday!

If you are reading this post and not already a "Roomie" - we'd love to include you in our discussions this month. In the same way we've tackle Curiosity and Accountability, we are diving into Community in April! Only Roomies have access to the conversations in real-time and are invited to the virtual meet-ups and discussions. You can join just for this next month or you can sign up for the year. Just check out your options here