As a recruiting business owner, I get to be my own boss.
What a blessing.
And a wretched curse.
The blessing far outweighs the curse or else I’d return to being an employee.
That and I’m too far gone to be an employee again.
What’s the the most bedeviling self-employment curse?
(No, not buying small group health insurance — though that is painful).
The lack of someone holding you accountable for activities, achievements, and milestones
In a single word, for your performance.
Sure, clients and candidates in recruiting hold you accountable, but only to a point.
The irony (or is it paradox?) of being your own boss: you need a boss.
I fixed this challenge by hiring Gary, a business coach to be my Sort-Of-Boss (SOB).
My SOB’s coaching includes monthly themes to improve my business and me.
That’s useful content but the major value is the built-in performance accountability.
I meet with Gary every month for a one-hour session.
At the session, I report on 3 accomplishments that I committed to the previous month.
Every week, I submit a Friday Feedback Report to Gary.
The Friday report makes me answer 3 questions:
(1) Did I do the objectives that I set last Friday?
(2) What were my top achievements this week and why are they significant?
(3) What am I committed to do in the next 7 days?
These Friday reports take 2 minutes to fill out.
Knowing that you need to report every Friday drives the performance.
Gary’s term for this is a “positive constraint” — a perfect term for this benefit.
Positive = progress toward improving yourself and your business
Constraint = control/discipline to do what likely might not happen otherwise
Positive constraints work well in other parts of my life.
I signed up for twice weekly personal training sessions.
I locked those 2 hours on my calendar.
The result: I never miss a session.
These workouts would NOT happen if I relied on simple willpower.
I need the discipline of a trainer and the calendar commitment.
Takeaway: To improve yourself, get a coach to help you create positive constraints.
Positive constraints will help you do what might not happen otherwise.
