Counting on Your Accountability

Accountability

As a voice over actor, everyday and everything is up to you. You have no boss telling you what to do, you have no reports waiting to be filed, you can do your job in your pajamas and you get to be creative. How exciting!

But also...everyday and everything is up to you. You have no one giving you tasks, you have no busy work to fill the time, you have no financial security and being in your pajamas everyday gets old. How daunting.

Solution, you ask? Why, I don’t mind if I do. FIND AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER.

I’m serious. Do the scary scary thing and ask someone who is in a similar “this is all on me” space and ask. Here’s some tips for a successful partnership.

CHOOSING A PARTNER

Your accountability buddy doesn’t have to be directly in your field (although it helps) but someone who would benefit. Like a fellow creative.

Choose someone who is sympathetic and fits your ‘go get it’ temperament and someone who has the same level of commitment as you.

COMMUNICATION

Set up clear communication at the beginning. How often are you going to meet? What will your meetings entail? How long do these meetings go on?

What I do specifically, is meet with my accountability partner once a quarter in person (aka over zoom these days) to establish goal settings for the quarter. Then we send daily emails during the work week with an outline of what we accomplished for that day. At the end of the quarter, we look back and see what we accomplished, what we didn’t and where this new quarter might be headed. Then establish new goals.

My daily emails look something like this:

VOICE OVER:

1. Update VoiceOverView

2. Send payment to Falcon

3. Send invoices

4. Schedule sessions for tomorrow

5. Audition 10 times

6. Make welcome video

7. Write blog post (THAT’S THIS! Ha!)

8. LinkedIn schedules

AUDITIONS:

1. Agents - 6

2. P2P - 2

3. Direct - 3

MUSIC:

1. Warm up

2. 15 min practice song

PODCAST:

1. Research new topic

2. Create visuals

3. Record first 15 min

4. Edit first 15 min

WELLNESS:

1. Exercise

2. 20 min meditation

REWARDS

We are human! Hooray! And humans need encouragement and not just someone to keep us in line. So build in some daily rewards. It could just be a ‘well done’ or ‘I see what you did there’ on your daily emails. Or it could be sharing a bottle of wine together at your quarterly meetings. Or it could be hourly text messages that say ‘you’re killin it’. Ha! Whatever the partnership needs to stay focused, stay connected and stay the course.

These established partnerships have been one of the most enjoyable parts of my work life and has benefitted me in so many ways. I hope it does the same for you.

Now, go be a superstar. You got this.