When we first started our group program, we weren’t helping people create a strong personal foundation. Our clients would set quarterly goals and every week they made commitments to help them move closer to them. Then we held them accountable to those commitments. In that first year, I thought people would do our 12-week program and then be on their way. Instead, they continued setting new goals and soon enough it was clear a larger roadmap was needed. That is when we introduced Vision. It was super exciting for us to see that evolution and we were open to changing because our whole model is based on feedback.
Healthy Habits
The process stayed that way for a long while. Then we noticed that there was a desire to make commitments that were not related to a particular goal or outcome. For a time we decided to put these commitments in a bucket called Healthy Habits and for a couple of years that worked well enough. Then we began to see that the word “health” was limiting and didn’t quite cover how that bucket was actually being used.
Evolving into Personal Foundation
Hence, came Personal Foundation which we introduced about several years ago. Although Vision was already part of the body of work that was at the genesis of Accountability Works, Personal Foundation was entirely new, created by the members to serve them in pursuit of their goals. It was like they knew what fuel they needed.
I’ve thought a lot about Personal Foundation and last week someone said something that really hit home.
In order to hold a vision, we must also be deeply grounded.
And I could see how the program had evolved so perfectly to embody that idea. Here we were working on goals, then wanting to cast out even further, but as we did that, realizing we needed strong grounding to allow us to do that work. It’s beautiful really.
My Personal Foundation
At the moment my personal foundation is about taking excellent care of my health. That means juicing, taking my supplements, exercise and my morning routine. For one of our clients, it is focused on nurturing their creativity, for another it is about connecting with friends and family members. Many people have exercise, meditation, and journaling commitments as part of their Personal Foundations. And still for others you’ll see cooking, reading, or learning a language.
Your Personal Foundation
Your Personal Foundation is the building block of all your other goals even if it’s not a goal itself. It is grounding because it requires a recognition of and commitment to what is most needed right now. It changes because what you need changes. Your Personal Foundation is not about creating a result in the future, it’s about how you want to feel right now and in turn how you feel right now impacts the results you are creating.
If you don’t currently have or explicitly know your Personal Foundation, you can start with this thought experiment. You have just hired an accountability coach, and for the next 12 weeks you are going to be working together. It’s time to talk about your Personal Foundation. Think about what you would like to commit to doing that would make you feel more energy, more connected to yourself and others or less stress? It could be something you’ve been telling yourself over and over again that you are going to start doing but haven’t done. Or it could be something you are doing but not consistently? This is your inner voice sharing valuable wisdom with you. Listen. This is your Personal Foundation beginning to take shape.
