Start2Finish: Fueling Discipline, Focus and the right mindset
Start2finish is about starting a journey towards achieving fulfilment and the guidance to travel through the voyage until reaching the shores of your goals and visions. The mission is reaching the finish line in whatever endeavours of your life. Many of us lose track of our goals or abandon ship due to situations surrounding us or we lose the will power to go on. Hence regularly reminding each other of what is at stake is key to keep us going
Start2Finish: Fueling Discipline, Focus and the right mindset
Accountability - the mirror that reflects your efforts: Secrets to Personal and Professional Growth.
Ever wondered how embracing accountability can completely transform your life? Discover the secrets of turning ordinary actions into extraordinary outcomes as I share my personal journey of overcoming debt and pursuing ambitious goals by taking responsibility for my actions. This episode promises valuable insights into how honesty and accountability can shape your path to success. We explore compelling stories and personal experiences that highlight why making accountability a part of your daily routine is vital to personal and professional growth.
Join me as we unravel the inspiring tale of a driver who turned a low-paying job into a thriving business by seizing opportunities and involving family for collective success. Through this narrative, we illustrate the significant impact of starting small and consistently pursuing opportunities. I also reflect on my own venture into the solar industry, where passion and perseverance were key in overcoming challenges and achieving milestones. By embracing accountability, we foster reliability and work towards realizing our aspirations.
Listen in to learn how accountability partners and teamwork can drive motivation and discipline. Through personal anecdotes and experiences, we highlight the value of community and support systems that help maintain focus and track progress effectively. From resolving conflicts within teams through open communication to forming supportive groups with shared goals, this episode underscores the importance of honesty, transparency, and commitment in collaborative efforts. By building meaningful relationships based on common interests, we enrich our personal and collective journeys, paving the way for substantial advancements.
Fueling Discipline , focus and the right mindset!
Welcome to another episode of Start to Finish, fueling discipline, focus and the right mindset. I'm your host, kuda, and yeah, you know we are all about start to finish, reaching our end goal, walking that journey to the finish line. That's what we stand for. We stand for and you know there's this subject that I've been uh, researching on learning, on trying to understand its impact on our lives, and it's a word that we speak about so many times and sometimes it lose meaning in the process because you are not following through on what we are saying. It's called accountability. When I was looking at goals, at change, at transformation, at becoming a different person altogether in this new season that we've just entered, I was looking at accountability Because you know, if you want to meet success, if you want to meet progress, you meet progress when you decide to be responsible to your actions, when you take accountability. You know it's an amazing word, Sometimes we don't want to relate to it, but it is something that becomes transformative if we relate. You know, we all know the job of an accountant In any organization. We need an accountant, we need someone who becomes responsible to account for every single cent that we've used right, that we've used Right and that process of accounting. You either notice errors. They always say numbers don't lie. It's literally the same thing With our lives, with our journey to our goals. You know, if we want to see results At the end of a cycle, we have to account. You know, if we want to see results at the end of a cycle, we have to account. You know we say it a lot, we say it to our kids, we say it wherever. You know you need to be accountable, you need to be responsible to your actions. Every action that you do has a consequences. You know has lead to somewhere, whether you are progressing forward or you are missing the mark. So it's always constantly going to be very important to live a lifestyle of accountability.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a story. Once upon a time in my journey, you know I think I've said this before I was in a lot of debt, and it was really. I was in shackles Until one day I decided you know what? I have to be accountable to my actions and whatever come thereof. And from that moment on, that was a shift in the mindset. Change was inevitable because I became accountable. It became so conscious in my mind that I must achieve this thing. I must bring a turnaround to my life. Life, you know, for people to respect me in the society, for people to you know, for me to accomplish my goals or to get to where I want to get to, I have to be accountable. I took action. I went around, spoke to every person that I was owing at that time, apologized, and my life has changed. I've never walked back that path again because I decided I must be accountable, I must be a new breed, I must be a new person.
Speaker 1:It goes with your goals. You have these big goals, these big ideas, and if you don't have accountability, if you don't account to someone, if you don't create partnerships where you account, but before you even move on to accounting to someone, you have to be accountable to yourself. For you to to get to a place of change, you know you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Brutally honest with yourself, brutally honest with yourself. Ask yourself the key questions when I am right now, is it where I'm supposed to be Two years, ten years from now? Do I want to remain where I am today? And when you begin to ask yourself the right questions, without giving yourself excuses or telling yourself a story that makes you feel okay for the situation that you are in, then change will begin to happen, because you are taking responsibility for where you are supposed to go, for where you are supposed to get to.
Speaker 1:Accountability starts with you.
Speaker 1:Change does not happen. Without taking account and responsibility to one's action, no change will happen. You know you have excuse because of your parents, because of your teacher, because of someone who said this to you, because of what happened to you. At what point are you going to be accountable? Are you going to take account and say, okay, fine, this is where I am, this is who I am, this is what I've gone through. These are my failures, these are my successes. Owning up to your position, this is where I've fallen short.
Speaker 1:And then begin to walk the journey. Demand accountability for yourself, put yourself to task. That's where it all begins. Do you want good health? Put yourself to task. You can't say I'm accountable today. Do exercises one or two days. Then, before you know it, you go back and do exactly the same old stuff you've been doing in the past.
Speaker 1:There is no transformation happening in your life because accountability is a lifestyle. It's every day that you need to be accountable, every single day that you live, because once you start a journey, you become self-aware. Once you say I'm walking this journey and be true to yourself and be responsible enough to walk and account to yourself every single day, then change will happen. When I started off this podcast, I said I'm going to do it. I had a conversation saying, 22 episodes later, I've walked the journey, but I still continue in that process. It's not something that I want to end, but it's something that I want to continue on and build a community.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, as you are listening, as we share ideas, our lives are going to be transformed and for this new season we've just entered, accountability is at the top. No one is going to come to you and say, hey, account and stick with it. But when you sit down with yourself and review yourself because accountability is a lifestyle Every single day you have to account, you have to commit To that thing that you have told yourself you are going to go and stick with it. That's what accountability does. It is good to tell yourself a story you know A good story that will make you think that you are making progress. It's good to tell yourself a good excuse that will make you comfortable. But for someone who wants to be true to themselves, they have to be brutally honest and do a real assessment of life in where they want to get to and begin on a journey to make those changes, to accountability, you know, to doing that thing that you know, if you do it regularly, it will make you a better human being, it will transform your life, it will bring change in all corners of your life. But it starts with you going through that process of brutal honesty and correcting yourself and starting to walk the journey.
Speaker 1:I've done so in so many areas of my life and I've seen progress. I've seen movement. I've seen movement, you know, and what really brought me to have this conversation is I've got this group of guys that we cycle with, and you know, I'm sure those who know me, I'm so passionate about exercising, especially cycling. So last year we started hanging out, we did some cycling sessions and by the close of the year, I think we all here we're around 5,000 kilometers which we have accomplished of cycling. So you know, we just sat down and we're talking.
Speaker 1:So this year, what are we looking at? What do we want to achieve by the close of the new season that we are in? So we decided that we wanted to achieve 10,000 kilometers. We are doubling from where we were. Yeah, that's a big mountain right there. But you know what they say If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. So we started this accountability process and everyone, in their own capacity, in their own time, they are cycling. Then we've got a weekend where we meet up and we cycle together. Uh, so already this this month, you know, uh, I think everyone was just testing, uh, their, their strength and but we've managed to achieve so much, looking in this short period of January, and I think we have cycled around 600, 700 kilometers Each person.
Speaker 1:So there is this sense of accountability that you know what I have committed myself To these guys. I don't want to let them down. We must achieve this goal. Even if I don't achieve the 10K, at least I will be as closer to the goal as possible. That's what accountability does. When you set a goal and you commit to achieving it, to accounting, then results will happen. I think the new season requires us to have accountability to ourselves and accountability with others, so that we stay on course to achieving our goal.
Speaker 1:Accountability means the quality or state of being accountable. It's further defined by the Marian Dictionary saying it's further defined by the Marian Dictionary saying especially an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or account to. You know, to accept responsibility. Where you are is because of the decisions and choices that you made in the past. Where you are going to be is going to be determined by either the old choices and decisions that you were operating in or new choices and decisions that you are going to stick with in this new season, and then change is inevitable One way or the other.
Speaker 1:Change always happens, for the best or for the worst, depending whether you just allow life to happen to you or you have made a decision and said from this moment on, I'm going to account for every word that comes out of on. I'm going to account for every word that comes out of my mouth. I'm going to account for every minute, second and hour of my day. I'm going to account to be a good person to my wife, to be a super dad. Everything requires an investment in the first place, of you investing in that area of your life that you want to see. Progress, that you want to see. Change is when you start by asking brutal questions and being honest with yourself, and you begin to walk the journey of accountability, the journey of being responsible to your actions and the consequences thereof. Accountability is doing the right thing over and over, until the ordinary becomes extraordinary. You need to continue doing the right thing. What is the thing that you know? If I do consistently, it's going to be to yield results for me.
Speaker 1:So just this day, I was in a taxi with this guy. I think we call it in drive. We're just having a conversation about what is happening in the country and what is happening in life. And he just started sharing his story. And he's like you know what? I was working as a driver at a certain company and you know the pay that I was getting was pathetic, but it was what it was, you know. And he started looking for new opportunities, new doors where he can inverse his time and commitment. So in drive started.
Speaker 1:So in the early days of in drives, he joined up. He's going to his work, he's getting, uh, less than 300 dollars per month. So he started doing this in drive thing. Uh, one day he's getting 40 bucks. Oh, another is getting 50. He's saying, oh, this thing can work. So he's got this beat up car that he had. So he started beat up car that he had. So he started and life started happening. So he saw okay, there's an opportunity here. It is work. Guess what? He's driving a fortuna, you know he's taking it home and and things, but it's not his, he's still struggling. So he saw this opportunity and he started pushing Weekends, work up. Every morning goes and he would come home around 120 years. I'm already meeting my monthly salary. This is an opportunity. So he started working on it. Working on it, decided to quit his job, make this a full-time job, and it has worked out for him.
Speaker 1:A couple of years later, this guy has bought, I think, three or four vehicles out of. You know, deciding to start doing something, deciding to do the right thing over and over, you know just doing the right thing. It has become extraordinary. He's generating income. He's able to, and the beautiful thing is that he's not doing his business alone. The wife is involved. She's the doing his business alone. The wife is involved. She's the operations, he's the driver. She accounts to every resource that they bring in. It's about starting a journey and they are in this process, which is so amazing. So I had some goosebumps when I was talking to him. I hope that I'll bring him on the program one of these days and he shares his story, but it was inspiring.
Speaker 1:It goes back to that place where you have accountability to yourself, accountability to your children, to your family. You know you can be a bad father. If you can't provide for your family, you can't take your kids to decent schools. So sometimes it's good to look for opportunities where you are around you. And so sometimes it's good to look for opportunities where you are around you and you can get to a place where you can then transition to becoming a business owner. So that's the progress that we can make with accountability. When you're accountable, people will count on you. When you're a reliable person, everyone wants to be your best friend. Because you're reliable. You are that guy. When your word means something, when you say you're going to be available, you are there. That's what accountability does.
Speaker 1:Accountability is a mirror that reflects your effort. When you tell yourself a story and you stick with it, it reflects your effort when you look at yourself in the mirror. You've told yourself I'll be dropping maybe 10 kgs. When you look yourself in the mirror, are you on your way to achieving that goal, or you're still talking about the 10 kgs, but you haven't made any progress. You haven't even started. You only started for two, three days. Then you decided to go back to the same old way you've been operating. Why are you kidding? Same old way you've been operating. Who are you kidding? Because accountability is a lifestyle you have to live, a lifestyle of being accountable. Accountability will help you reach your finish and achieve your goals. Who doesn't have goals here? Who doesn't want to earn new money? Who doesn't want to succeed? We all do. Then begin to make the right decisions and the right choices and take the responsibility. Walk the journey that you're supposed to walk and you'll see yourself at the finish line. Yes, it's not going to be easy. Yes, it's going to be hard sometimes, but when you have made a commitment, that alone will keep pushing you.
Speaker 1:I remember at some point when we were starting our solar business. It was hard, it was tough. It was hard, it was tough, you know, and back then I had no vehicle, I didn't even know whether I was. The business was able to take care of me to the stages that it has at this point. I remember I used to walk and I used to travel by commuting wherever I would want to go.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you know you want to go in the Borodo area. You are carrying this heavy bag and with all the tools and you do it every single day. You don't even feel the pain Of doing that thing Because you are so passionate, you are so driven To achieving that goal. That's the thing, because when you start the process and it becomes a muscle, you know you want that accountability muscle to keep stretching. Everything that we do is a muscle. So when you begin to account yourself, you don't need to start with this gigantic thing. Start with something that you know is within your capacity and begin to account to it. You don't just start by walking, you start by crawling. Then you start balancing yourself. Then you take your first step, second step, but all that is the process of growth. As long as you have decided you want that change, it will happen.
Speaker 1:Accountability is balanced. That's how at least I view it. You don't want imbalance when you are count At home. You want to be the greatest dad. You want your kids to rely on you. You want your kids to get whatever they want in the home. You also want to be a great husband. You want to be accountable to your wife in everything that you do. You can't be a father than a better husband. It has to be a combination, a culmination of all these things working together.
Speaker 1:Others can be amazing colleagues at work. They are count to their work, their bosses like them, but when they are at home, horrible people. But at some point you have to strike a balance. You have to look at your life as a whole and begin to account to your kids, and your kids will give you accountability back. And begin to account to your colleagues. Begin to account to your health. Others can be great in every area of their lives. Begin to account your colleagues. Begin to account your health. Others can be great in every area of their lives, but they can't give themselves good health and sometimes the life is cut short because we did not do what we know we're supposed to do. So we have to be accountable in every area of our lives. So we have to be accountable in every area of our lives. We have to be accountable to our goals. We have to be accountable to learning, learning new information.
Speaker 1:You know you are at a company where you are doing so well. The potential is there for you to excel beyond where you are, but you don't give yourself to learning, you don't account to knowing new knowledge, new information. You remain the same person in the same place. But change is important. It starts there. Accountability. It starts there. Accountability. It's a lifestyle.
Speaker 1:As I've said, you don't do it today, then you stop. Tomorrow you keep on being A reliable person, a responsible person, someone who accounts their actions At work, at home, everywhere. What you are, actions at work at home, everywhere, what you are known at work, should be known at home. You know everything should be equally and well balanced. It may be difficult to really balance it, but when you have an accountability mentality, you always then find a way to almost get to a place where maybe the skills sometimes they're tilted in different, you know, but eventually you try to strike that balance which I think becomes very important.
Speaker 1:Examples of accountability Anything, I think for one which moves them forward, which changes and transforms their lives. That's an example of accountability. If you know that thing that you must do, that will make you a better person. You have to work on your communication skills. You have to meet deadlines, making your word, your bond when you tell your child you'll be at their school, play you find a way to get there. Or when you're supposed to pick them up after school, be on time, not every time. The child eventually knows okay, my father comes at four and everyone is already gone, it's only me there. We have to have that level of accountability.
Speaker 1:Accountability means admitting your mistakes. You should not always be right all the time just being. You know, I accept. I think in this case I was wrong. I stand to be corrected and you, you, you feel good. One, two, you've. You've honoured up. You know it's not a rest to be always on the good side, always right over everyone else. Take responsibility to your actions and the consequences.
Speaker 1:We've already spoken about it being proactive. Life is not about just waiting for Sequences. We've already spoken about it. Being proactive Life is not about just waiting for life to happen. But in the scenario or where we are right now in this country, how proactive are you? How are you allowing your mind to think ideas that gets you out of poverty? Or you are letting situations take over? Be proactive, look outside the box. Find other opportunities that will supplement your work salary. You never know that idea. If you continue developing it, it becomes something, even massive, that will transform you. It becomes the next big business, you know. But it all starts from somewhere.
Speaker 1:Right, ask for help. Ask for help. Right, ask for help. As hard as it may, to ask for help. Sometimes it's good to ask for help when you know you're in trouble. It also shows your commitment and that you are being accountable to yourself and you want change. I know most men we don't want to ask for help. It's hard, it's difficult. You'd rather drown in your sorrows, in your frustrations. That's why sometimes you hear oh, someone just fell and died, just like that. Sometimes it's good to ask for help. As long help can be offered to you, why not ask for it? It's free to ask for it at the end of the day, and that's what accountability does. Accept criticism when you then ask for help, be ready to be corrected, and that's what accountability does. Accept criticism when you then ask for help, be ready to be corrected, you know. Be ready to be chastised and accept the changes and the consequences thereof, depending on your situation, obviously, the changes and the consequences thereof, depending on your situation. Obviously, follow through on commitments. When you commit to do something, make sure you go ahead and do it. When you say you're going to be available at a certain time, be there on that time.
Speaker 1:You know I was someone who used to struggle with communication a lot and also time. Time is still a struggle for me, but I account to it and I'm working towards it. But communication was a really big one. Sometimes I would run away from my clients. When they want to communicate with me, they want to, you know, or maybe there's a situation that I did not resolve, I would not communicate. But with time I realized that communication is the breakfast of champions. Sometimes all you need to do is to communicate. Learn to communicate the good message as much as the bad message. Pick up your phone and answer someone and just give a response, that's it. And answer someone and just give a response, that's it. Sometimes they may shout at you and just get the shouting and get it over with Instead of not answering that call the first time, then there's the second time and the third time and the fourth time.
Speaker 1:Before you know it, things are getting out of hand and these are skills that we can all develop clarify expectations. You've set your goals. Okay, we're actually reviewing a goal with my, with my secure, for this transport business. You know we've got this goal, that we've said no so in January, if we hit this number, it'll be good In February. You know we do this, but January has come to an end and we are way far away from achieving that goal. It's good just to clarify expectations.
Speaker 1:Look back at your expectations. Is it something we can still achieve, or we need to twitch it downwards a little bit, lower down our expectations a little bit, because if you continue having high expectations and the results are not really matching up, it means you get disappointed. You'd rather then reduce the expectations and work it out in that sort of manner. You still achieve something, you still get progress right. You still achieve something, you still get progress Right. It may just be not what you are expecting or what you want, but that's what life is all about.
Speaker 1:We all have to do a given task. So do activities seeking feedback. Everything that we have to do it has to bring in some form of feedback to us and at least we begin to make the progress that we want, you know. So that feedback loop becomes very necessary In everything that you're doing. Am I getting feedback? Then you know, okay, this thing that I've said I will do and I've committed myself to is really working out for me. Or it's not working. Let me review a better way of functioning, so, or it's not working. Let me review a better way of functioning.
Speaker 1:So, looking at the importance of accountability accountability, I think, is, you know, when you account number one, you feel good about yourself, knowing that you are sticking with that thing. That will shape your life. It's progress. You know, I say it, at some point I've lost five kgs and when I lost my five kgs I maintained throughout the year. So this year I expect to lose another five, you know. But when I started off I thought I would just like hit a 10 kg loss, then start maintaining from there. But it's never as easy as we all anticipate.
Speaker 1:But when you make progress, it shows your commitment To change, to transformation. Progress. It shows your commitment to change, to transformation. Accountability fosters personal growth. When you set a goal for yourself I'm going to do this and I'm going to do it religiously and I'm going to commit myself to it you begin to see results coming in. It's your commitment to doing that thing. Accountability builds relationships. Like I said, when people begin to rely on you, they know if we tell this guy for assistance. They'll do it. You know you build better relationships at family level, at work level, because you are a reliable person.
Speaker 1:Accountability improves performance. It's a lifestyle. When you begin to do that thing every single day, it's a lifestyle. When you begin to do that thing Every single day, it's a lifestyle. You begin to see the progress. Sometimes you don't see the progress as early as you want to see it, but if you do something long enough, you're definitely going to see the changes, because life is compound. That's how we progress. You know you, change doesn't come overnight, but from the moment you thought of it and you start actioning, it it's already happening. Do it long enough. Then you see, oh, okay, I've made so much progress. Uh, I like a statement of um. Then you see, oh, okay, I've made so much progress. I like a statement of Steve Jobs, which he said you know you don't look at life forward, you look backwards, at the dotted lines. You know, when you look at the dotted lines, oh okay, this is how far I've come. Like I was telling you when I started off. I was walking and it was tough. It was hard, but I endured the process right. So when I look back, I said, okay, so I've come that far. Then I say, ebenezer, god has brought me here, you know. So you look back in order to move forward.
Speaker 1:Even as you want to decide about accountability, you look back from where you're coming from right and review and be brutally honest with yourself in order to move forward. It encourages learning from mistakes. You learn from your mistakes when you are accountable to yourself, when you take account to others. It promotes better decision making. Recently, I really made a dumb and stupid decision. I'm not going to talk about it today, but let's just say it costed me and I've taken account for that mistake, for that stupidity. I'm in a better place right now, but when it happened I got so stressed. So I've taken account for my faults, for my failures, and I now know, you know what, how I must do things, and there's no quick reach scheme. None. You don't make money overnight. You have to work hard at it. Whether you are told it lotto, you know you. You make money. Only maybe one in a million is able to walk away really rich. The rest you keep playing and hoping and it won't happen that way. So we have to learn from our mistakes and it promotes me making the right decision in the future.
Speaker 1:When I see something, I just don't jump into it. I sit back and think before I do anything. It enhances your self-awareness. You know we have to be self-aware. Self-actualization you know where you're just like. You don't just like what we're talking about. You don't just jump into things. You take your time, you make progress. You move with things at your pace not everyone's pace, because everyone has different paces altogether. There's someone who wants to move faster, then there's someone who moves a bit slower, but you still get to the destination. So run your own race.
Speaker 1:Goal achievement that's how accountability, how important it is when you set a goal. We all set goals at the beginning of the year, or we have goals that we've been working on for the past two years, three years. When you account to those goals, you keep doing them and you keep at it. Even sometimes you don't see the results that you want, because you know eventually it will work out. So that's how important accountability is. So we all have to account to self first. Then we begin to account to one another, maybe in the family group and in other parts of our lives. But as you walk this journey, I think I've said that if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. I think we all need to belong to a tribe. Depending on your goals, your dreams, your visions sometimes we are talking of health visions, you know belong into a gym or a group or a cycling group, whatever it is. Be part of something that will help you to account to that journey and you'll make friends, people who eventually care enough for you or who share the same passions and goals. Then you can also begin your accountability process.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 27, 27, 17 says as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. When you put yourself in a community, when you find a mentor and you are not walking alone, then you are going to be sharpened. When you are falling, then you are going to be sharpened. When you are falling short, you are going to be corrected. But at the end of the day, you have to want it. You know, no one can be accountable if they don't want it, if they have not decided to change. I've taken interest in some family, relatives and friends, but they haven't decided to change. So no matter how much you want to help them, they're not going to change Until the day they decide to take accountability, then your words will not fall on deaf ears. So we can be sharp and we can sharpen each other, like what we're doing right now. We're sharpening each other.
Speaker 1:Your feedback is very important to me. Is what we're discussing making sense or it's fictitious? Your feedback is very important so that I stay on course and I stay relevant. Your feedback is very important so that I stay on course and I stay relevant. So for me, I think for my health, cycling is my thing. That's what I do. I enjoy it, I have fun with it. If I take my bike, I'm out there, I'm cruising, you know, and focus. I'm just focusing on that one thing. I'm not multitasking, I'm not worried, I'm not thinking, I'm just enjoying. I'm present in the moment, alone. Here I have to walk certain journeys on my own, but I equally have a tribe.
Speaker 1:As I was explaining that, I have a group of guys. Now we've set a target for 10,000 kilometers that we want to hit and it's going to take a lot of commitment and doing this thing together, not alone. That will make us move forward and be progressive, checking in on each other hey, how far have you gone? Are you still on track? You know and you can also get accountability to even assist him in application, like we use what is called Strava to to track uh, all the sessions that I've done. I just have to make sure it's switched on and every time I'm going out there, whether I'm going to cycle uh twice a week or sometimes I miss for a month, but consolidatively that information is there and it keeps you know. When you see the progress that you have made okay, so I've just not been doing it for a month, but I've made this much progress in the past three months then it pushes yourself to get back on the horse, you know. So there are applications and systems out there. When you integrate yourself with that system, it will help you to work up in the morning, you know you. You just have to structure your, your work in that system. It will give you an alarm. As long as you become so disciplined enough to adhere to what the system requires, then you stay on course doing the work that needs to be done, people that you really resonate with, with the same vision and goals, and you sit down regularly and checking on each other. Are we really sticking our guns on this thing? Then progress will happen.
Speaker 1:What to do with an accountability partner, yeah. So what do you need to do? I think I've already spoken about meeting with your, you know, on a regular basis, communicate more frequently, you know, exchanging ideas and, yeah, where you're falling short, learning together. How have you dealt with this situation? And you begin to have a rapport, and the more you do it it, the more you build friendship. So yesterday last not yesterday, last year we're blessed with a baby, with with a baby, and the same guys that I am cycling with have been with there in the process. They even brought in their appreciation to say, hey, guy, you know, this is our appreciation. Now it's spreading into my family. It's no longer about kuda and his crew, you know, they're just. We're not overlapping in each other's family and helping each other wherever we can, because the relationship is being formed by the same interests and the same goals.
Speaker 1:You know, and the most important thing is to listen to one another. An accountability partner is available to listen and offer advice. The question is you know you don't need to have an accountability partner of maybe your wife or someone you know. You'd rather have someone who can be brutally honest and who you are willing to listen to when they speak to you, when they correct you or when they check in on you to find out where you are, you sit down, they correct you, they tell you okay, this is a better way of doing things. Go and apply. Then you know, you kind of do reviews and see where the progress is happening. They offer support in difficult situations. Maybe you've done something wrong and you've fallen short or you're facing certain consequences because of your decisions. When you have an accountability team or partner, they are able to lend a hand to you so that you find your footing during that tough time, and they always remind you the importance of deadline, of doing what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1:So our target for like every month, is 800 kilometers. So you get to realize 800 kilometers is really a big goal, trust me. So I was trying then to break it down to say, okay, fine, so on a weekly basis, how much can I do? Oh, it's like I can't cycle every single day. I don't think I can, so because of commitments and things like that, but I have to at least cycle four times and hit 50 kilometers every single day, every time I go out for the session in order to meet. 200 kilometers per week in order to meet 200 kilometers per week. In order to meet 800 kilometers per month? It's too hard to fathom, but everyone has got their own strategy of how they're going to do it, obviously. Then we have these bigger sessions where we do maybe 100 or so kilometers, depending on time and availability. Yeah, so that we meet the deadlines and we make the progress that is needed. And we are constantly going to be watching for and identifying negative behaviors If you're not doing what you're supposed to do. Okay, what's been going on this week? I remember when I traveled I had to account and say, guys, I'm not going to be available for a week because of work commitments, so I may not be able to achieve, but when I come back I'll make sure I pick up where I left off. And I did exactly that when I became available.
Speaker 1:Rely on you for similar help. So it's a give and take. You know, when you're accounting to each other, you're giving each other, you are taking from each other and, yeah, it's important and having an accountability partner provide support. You know it gives you a standard, because you don't want to let anyone down, so there's a certain high standard that it brings. It helps you to stay committed. Regular meets encourage you to be better. You are motivated to remain on course. It helps you to monitor on your progress, on their progress, and exchange ideas. It helps you to gain or helps the people involved to gain, perspective. So I think it's important to, once you have accounted yourself, you know the goals that you want to achieve and you belong to a community. Then from there, you identify either an individual or a few individuals that you relate with within the same goals and begin to exchange ideas, making yourselves better versions for the new season.
Speaker 1:So what to look out for in an accountability partner is obviously similar goals, positivity. Are they positive? Are they driven? Yeah, so this is one guy. You know he's ever smiling. It's as if, like, that's all he does. You know it's as if he doesn't get disappointed, you know, because he's always happy. So it gives you positivity, it gives you progress and I think we are learning to build more communication skills.
Speaker 1:So when we were doing our session just this past weekend, I was writing a bit too fast when we started off, including my other colleague, and the guy started complaining. You know, this is not how we're supposed to do things. This is how we're supposed to do things, and when you then now try to coach them, they are not listening. No, no, everyone should write the way they want, the way they know, how you know. Then the next thing, they're like you know what? You can only coach us when we are writing together. And so we then came up with a strategy, which then began to work for everyone and we started applying it.
Speaker 1:So, by the time we were done, everyone was involved. We're writing as a crew and it was good. So, yeah, we ended the whole process on a good note, you know, because there was new perspective, there was communication, there was honesty. Someone was a bit tense, but, you know, because you now begin to know each other, the way you communicate or the way you relate to the other party. Then you adjust in order to continue incorporating each other. Then there's a lot of wisdom and honesty and transparency and discipline, and, yeah, we are committed to seeing this thing being achieved.
Speaker 1:So these are some of the things that you look at looking for an accountability partner and the things you look at being accountable to yourself. And that's the journey. I just thought I should share this with everyone and just say let's be accountable for this year. You know as you get this message. It's all our practice. Who is it in your cycle? The people that you've started knowing, the people that you function with most of the time and you know they are level-headed and we can relate at that level, know they are level-headed and there we can relate at that level. Why not create those partnerships and begin to account and begin to make progress? It's guaranteed. By the end of this new season, by the end of this new season, I think we'll be in a different place. All together would have made massive progress. So let's go, let's start, let's account and cheers, we'll see you at the finish line.