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I’m on a health kick. You most likely know that already. Follow-Through is my defining word of 2012. In conjunction with my new found health kick, I have finally acknowledged one very key fact: Accountability is one heck of a tool for follow-through. So Chris Theisen and I decided that we were going to hold each other accountable for our daily water intake. 

Thus, the #h2o12 hashtag was born.

My awesome accountant, and fitness+health nut Michelle Boyden aka Meeeeeechelle helped me land on the goal of trying to drink about a gallon of water a day. That’s roughly 11 refills of my favorite #IUBB cup.

I’m on Day 7 of the Ryan+Chris Challenge. And you’ll be happy to know, I’m allllllll over the follow-through.

Question is: Are you drinking enough water everyday? [Vote in the poll below]

follow-through: carrying some project or intention to full completion

I decided I was not going to do a New Years Resolution post, because the market is flooded with those and my blog doesn’t carry enough weight (yet) to rise above that noise. Be honest with yourself, how many of those did you read/see? I’m guessing the number is closer to ten than it is one. I hope that everyone sticks to their list of ‘New Year New Me’ and gets after it in 2012. Honestly, I do. I hope that all of you hit every goal you’ve given yourself.

In deciding how I was going to write this post, I hadn’t come any closer to choosing an idea, when my good friend Andrew Dumont (check out his blog here) tweeted this:

The Problem Isn’t Motivation -http://s.hbr.org/xmoWqu

 It was a Havard Business Review (HBR) blog post by Peter Bregman. Halfway through the post I saw the sentence that defined what 2012 was going to be for me, both personally and professionally:

No, Byron’s challenge isn’t motivation. It’s follow-through.

Eight words. Eight simple words that clearly defined my 2012. Follow-through. If you know anything about me, you know that I’m a go-getter. Motivation isn’t a problem I have. Whether it is self-motivation or motivating others — I’m pretty darn good at it if you ask me. So if motivation is not the elephant in the room, what is? What’s holding me back? What is the thorn in my craw? What was going to be my Yeaaaaa but or Maybe next year?

Follow-through.

At its root definition, follow-through is basic and easy to understand. However in application, it might as well be something like this:

Follow-through, in layman’s terms is completing a task. Not motivating yourself to complete a task, it requires the defined action of completing a task. Lets use the all-encompassing To-Do List as an example. You’ve might of heard me say a time or two: “To-Do Lists are meant to be done, not added to.”

Huh. I guess the advice you give truly is the hardest advice to take.

So here it is, my Follow-Through List for 2012:

1. Get my fat ass in shape. A picture is worth a thousands words, and I have about that many curse words for myself when I catch a glimpse in the mirror. I’m not doing it for any other reason but this one: health. I want to be able to know that I’m healthy, and by looking in the mirror see I’m healthy and fit. I miss playing soccer (and lots of it), I miss having more energy than most, I miss finishing first in races, I miss going to the pool — I just miss shit. All of that comes with being a more healthy and fit Ryan. I’ve got p90x 2 and no excuses. Trust me, I’ve exasperated every possible one.
2. Learning to code. I spent the ages of 23-27 being the ‘ideas’ guy. Hell, I even got a start-up funded out of it. But the point is I need to stop creating a bunch of ideas, and following-through on one. Not some, just one. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t get jealous of others successes. (I know, I know - not a good character trait) But luckily for me its very controlled and its one hell of a motivator. There is that word again…It seems I have plenty of motivation, so lets get some actionable follow-through and learn code. The stack I’m learning is: HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails. I was complaining to Jared Brown, my good friend and the devhead behind this blog, about being tired of being dependent on other people for code. He asked me, “What do you want to build Ryan?” I explained to him the types of things that interested me and he replied, “You want to build web apps. Ruby on Rails is the best language for that.” Knowing that HTML and CSS were required skills, I was set.
3. Have fun.

So there you have it. Public Accountability at its finest. No smoke and mirrors, nothing but brutal self-honesty and call-outs. Its time I took back the parts of my life I was motivating myself for, but wasn’t following-through on shit. I think that the problem-solution is more so than just ‘talking about it vs. being about it.’ I’m done talking or being about all of it. Do it > talk it | be it.

I like to keep things simple when I can….So what is the one thing you’re going to do in 2012? Mine’s simple. Follow-through. 

More than two years ago, I was going through a journey to discover what kind of leader I am, where my strengths lie, and what skills I need to look for when hiring.

During that time, we also took a step back to discover what makes a level 5 employee (as described in “Good to Great”)…or someone who is a leader at any level.

At Arment Dietrich, we don’t interview people – we interview leaders.

And leaders come at every level – not just at the top (and, sometimes, the people put in leadership positions aren’t leaders).

Sure, every business needs followers, but we look for people who have leadership skills in various areas; areas that complement where we have weaknesses on the team.

Because not everyone is a leader in everything (which is why I hire people who are strong where I am weak).

Unfortunately, we can’t interview people in social situations to see whether or not they’re wallflowers or light up a room when they walk in. What we can do, though, is interview for skills and talent that exceed the 9 to 5 workday.

So, what do we look for?

We want to know:

• If you push yourself to learn more.
• If you do, how so.
• What you read and what you subscribe to daily.
• Which conferences you attend and what you’ve learned.
• Examples of times you’ve been innovative and creative.
• Examples of when your creative ideas have been squashed and how you’ve handled it.
• Whether or not you are self-motivated, driven, and a self-starter (we’re not micromanagers).
• Whether or not you “steal” your colleagues’ ideas as your own.
• How you inspire the people above, at your level, and below you.
• What you do very first thing when you go to a networking event.
• Whether or not you’re involved in our industry organizations.
• Examples of taking one for the team or sticking up for a colleague.
• How you handle conflict.
• Examples of when you’ve asked for additional responsibility.

This may seem like a crazy long list, but I can tell you what this kind of stuff tells us:

1.   If you read and subscribe to blog posts, articles, videos, and podcasts, we know you’re continually learning.

2.   If you attend conferences, networking events, and are involved in the industry organizations, we know you will always be asking for more responsibility.

3.   If you participate online through your own blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes, and/or LinkedIn, we know you aren’t a believer in the 9 to 5 day.

4.   If you can give examples of how you handle conflict and taking one for the team, we know what kind of communication skills you have.

Granted, we are a digital marketing firm so we look for people who can already use web and mobile technologies.

But every business looks for people who can add value, both financially and emotionally. And people who act like they own a piece of the company, have accountability, are exceptional team players, and never talk down to others are the ones all of us are excited to work with every day. You can’t always choose your co-workers, but you can choose the way you behave.

Behave like a Level 5 employee.

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, the author of Spin Sucks, the founder of the soon-to-be-launched Spin Sucks Pro, and a co-author of the forthcoming Marketing In the Round.