E132: Behind-The-Scenes: My Monthly Accountability Meeting

This is my new and improved solo date I have every month. I share what I track, questions I ask, and how I take action on my goals, plus a few more key pieces…

[3:22] Welcome back to the women’s empowerment podcast! If you are a long-time listener of the show, you might remember an episode I did way back in the beginning days of the live version of the podcast it was Episode 25: Steal My Monthly Accountability Meeting

This episode is an oldie, but a goodie! And I still practice the Monthly Accountability Meeting that I share, however it has evolved in the last couple years so I thought I’d revisit this topic with you and take you behind the scenes into my new and improved version of the Monthly Accountability Meeting.

First, allow me to explain what this is exactly: It’s a solo meeting I have with myself every first of the month where I review different parts of my business, track specific items, set goals for the month ahead, and gain a better understanding of where I am as it relates to my goals, my well-being, etc.

Most of my accountability meetings ask the same questions, or track similar items, however there is flexibility in what we want to ask or track depending on what our goals are. I think it’s important to set big goals for the year and break them down into quarterly and monthly goals, and then get even more specific with some daily or weekly habits to get us there.

Knowing the big-picture goals will help us have more clarity on what our smaller goals and habits can be to support us reaching the larger goal.

My web designer and friend, Chantelle and I recently chatted on the podcast about habits for intentional entrepreneurs and we also did an Instagram Live together breaking down more specific habits and how we can layer them.

Episode 129: Habits for Intentional Entrepreneurs with Chantelle Andercastle

IGTV: @vallavignelife Layering Habits with Chantelle @clearquartzcreative

Through today’s episode I’ll take you behind the scenes and share my exact accountability meeting, however I want to encourage you to create your own version of the meeting based on your specific goals.

You can also customize your accountability meeting by including different sections to support separate goals. For example Business, Health, Relationships, etc. My advice for this would be, try not to make it TOO long because it can take a lot of time and you’ll be less likely to complete it.

I like to pull an oracle card at the end of my meeting, as a message for the month ahead. A little spiritual touch/guidance. You can add your own personal touches with specific essential oils, your favourite playlist, perhaps like Chantelle you bring in your crystals, or maybe pour an oat milk latte before you get started.

You do you boo.

[9:18] I like to have a digital copy of my accountability meeting, and you can too. Or you can dedicate a special journal to logging your stats and goals each month.

To begin, write your annual and quarterly goals on the first page.

Accountability Meetings 2021

Annual Goal:

Quarterly Goals

Q1:

Q2:

Q3:

Q4:

On the next page, take some time to journal what the next three to twelve months looks like, feels like, sounds like, tastes like, even smells like. Write this piece in the present or past tense, as if you already reached these goals. You can free-write for as long as you like (5-10 minutes is suggested), and get as detailed as possible. You can do the journal piece every three months, or just once for the year; that will be up to you!

If you need some prompts to get you started try these:

When I reached my ___(quarter 1/2/3/4 or annual goal)___ I felt…
The people who helped me achieve my goals were…
I reached these goals when I believed ______ about myself and…
An obstacle I had to overcome was… I did this by…
I am celebrating my success this (quarter/year) with…
Anything else I needed to share…

[12:23] The next page will be your first month. This podcast episode is being published in June, which I know isn’t the start of the year, but it doesn’t matter WHEN you start the Accountability Meeting, what matters is that you start! Let’s use May/June as our example.

The title of this page will be the previous month and the year we’re in: MAY 2021

We start with what we’re tracking. Here’s what I am tracking in my business:

Sales calls booked, cancelled, and converted

Time spent on business tasks

Days taken completely off

Times I went out of my comfort zone

Profit + loss on a Monthly Basis

Where my leads are coming from

Social media outreach, engagement, ROI

Podcast stats for the month and all time

What I’m most proud of

Goals for [next month] June (How I want to feel, How much month I want to attract, anything else)

Card for the month ahead:

When you’re considering which items to track or questions to ask, always ask yourself WHY you’re tracking this. Only relevant items need to be tracked.

So before you head over to the show notes page and copy my tracking list, which is fine if you want to track the same things, but make sure they are relevant to your business goals. I cannot stress this enough! If you don’t have your own podcast, however you want to be a guest on podcasts this year, I would suggest writing in your goals a list of 10 different shows and reach out to each of them that month, and then track which ones you were able to get on. Each month keep adding to that list of shows you want to be on and grow from there.

As another example, if the goal is to buy a house it would make sense for us to track our spending, and savings, but tracking the times we went out of our comfort zone might not relate.

If your goal is to finish building your van so you can travel around the country, you could track “time spent on van tasks” and break that down into different parts of the van project. This will help you understand where your strengths are and where you might need more support. However you wouldn’t be tracking which instagram posts or podcast episodes did the best.

Perhaps your goal is to live a healthier lifestyle and you want to eat healthier and be more active. If this is the goal, you can track your workout and recovery days, the types of workouts that made you feel the best. I also find it helpful to take weekly photos of my body to see what specific muscle groups are improving and which ones could use a little more push. It’s also a great way to track progress.

Always keep in mind that what gets measured is what gets moved. Meaning if you want something to change or transform or grow, measure that.

[19:29] If you’re just starting out you can also adjust your questions as you go. You might start with tracking 10 items and realize that the first 7 are the most relevant. You might track those 7 items for quarter one, but track 5 different items in quarter two. It all depends on your specific goals.

Allow yourself the flexibility, and each month you can ask if these items or questions are still relevant to your goals. I also like to ask myself if there is something that hasn’t been said or tracked or noted?

Having the goals for the next month is also a great part of the process to see what you’re excited about and any other important pieces that we could take into consideration.

After we’ve filled in the tracking stats and answered the questions, we will have a better understanding of what’s working and what isn’t.

The last step in the Monthly Accountability is to write down 3-5 action steps to take next. To do this, look at your goals for the month ahead, based on these goals what do you have to do? Who do you have to be to reach this goal?

If you have a goal to read 10 pages a day of a personal development book, you can schedule time in your calendar every day to read. Have the book ready, and you can even set a daily alarm to remind you that now is the time to read 10 pages.

For the podcast episodes the action step is to email your media kit to each of the podcasts on your list. Then set a date to follow up with the recipients one-two weeks later if you haven’t heard from them yet.

Taking relevant action is going to move us forward toward our goals.

For the following months, continue the Accountability Meeting as we discussed, and remember to look back on the month before and see which of the goals and action steps we took. If we took action, how did it go? What results did we have? If we didn’t take action, or didn’t reach our monthly goals, how could we improve or adjust them?

Please share your progress with me, I love seeing your work and cheering you on! You can find me on instagram @vallavignelife and send me a DM or pop into the comments so we can continue today’s conversation!

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!