Personal Accountability and The 100% Factor

I have been so (happily) busy in September and, although I don't really have any extra time until the middle of October, I just wanted to tell you a little bit about my extraordinary month!

I've had the extreme fortune and opportunity to work with 12 different clients during the month of September, not counting the three meetings I've had to create upcoming engagements. I've learned so much from each of these clients as well (it really is true for me that I teach what I most need to learn).

In addition, three of those clients have purchased my new book The 100% Factor for their staffs, and I'll be speaking tonight and tomorrow night for another client (90 tonight and 50 tomorrow night) where I'll be able to sell my books before and after the presentation.

It's so strange to be a first-time author and to hear that people really do like my work. I can think it's good, but the true test comes when others let me know what they think.

I worked with one client on Monday. The owner/founder of this company purchased the books for her staff of about 10 people and I met with them Monday morning. I wasn't really sure what we were going to cover, but what we created in the space of about 90 minutes was truly amazing. Each of them had already read the book, so I started by asking them if the topic of a particular chapter had inspired any further dialogue for them. That's where the magic happened.

I think each of them had something come up for them based on the topic of a particular chapter. We talked about fear (fear of failure and fear of success) and change and the undercurrent of the entire conversation was personal accountability. At the end of each chapter of The 100% Factor is a reality checklist of four questions the readers - or in this case, the employees - could ask themselves to help them set up an action plan for the information from that chapter. It really asks readers to take what they've read and move it from knowledge to action.

By hearing their stories about where they are in their lives and careers, it really helped me see that I can learn as much from them as I hope they can learn from me and what they've read in my book. Together we were able to create game plans going forward for them individually and as a team. Because they were so candid and open, they formed their own accountability partnerships within their work team and now they have the freedom to ask each other to hold them accountable for where they want to go, not necessarily where they have been.

It was great to see them so eager to build their company, which is a 3-year-old entrepreneurial company that is growing and thriving, and, in the process, build themselves as well.

As each of those employees chooses a more powerful route along their chosen career paths, whether that is with this company or with another one someday, they are each making a huge impact on everyone they come into contact with, both inside and outside their work lives. When they - and everyone, really - choose to build their own capacities for all the tasks and situations in their lives, they will see what it feels like to live a full life. Full - 100% - doesn't mean overflowing and it doesn't mean half. It's that certain point where the world's deep hunger and their deep gladness meets, to paraphrase Frederick Buechner.

For any of us - and all of us - to be truly successful in the long run, is there any other way to do it?