A few years ago, in a vain attempt to improve my less than brilliant guitar playing, I enrolled in an evening course for “intermediate players” at a nearby community college.

Already familiar with several of the scales, and the requisite three chords all guitarists need to know, I reasoned I was ready “to take it to the next level”.

There were about 15 people attending the six week course, two of whom were sisters. At each of the weekly meetings, our instructor would remind us that daily practice was essential to becoming a good guitarist. His message on the final day of the course was no different.

“Don’t forget to practice your scales everyday!” he said by way of a farewell. He then turned to the two sisters in the group and said, “You two will be able to act as each other’s consciences in this regard!”

His words, aside from being some encouragement to the sisters, also struck me as an interesting and useful concept.

While most of us think of a conscience as being a guiding force, and something that influences our thoughts and actions in, hopefully, the right direction, a conscience can also act as a gentle reminder, and prompt us to stay focussed and working towards our goals.

And a person acting as a conscience is not like a mentor, but rather someone who will periodically prod us, and remind us of where we should be at any given time.

Asking someone to act as a conscience can be especially beneficial for people who are effectively working alone to achieve what are sometimes open ended and long term goals, where they are not really “accountable” to anyone except themselves.

This is in contrast to team situations, say a workplace project, where goals and deadlines are under constant review by a team leader.

In these sorts of circumstances it is far easier to remain motivated and working towards a specific outcome, as most of us would not relish the prospect of having to “explain ourselves” if things were not completed when required.

Working as part of a team also means we have others to call on if we need help or advice, and this is a role a “conscience” can also partly fulfil, offering encouragement and support when needed.

Changing careers is a very individual, or solo undertaking, and since we are not working as part of a team, and our performance (or lack of) is not being monitored by anyone else, it can become all too easy to let things slip.

And when this starts to happen it is often very easy just to say to ourselves, “Oh well, not to worry, maybe next time.” And all too often we can be very vague about when “next time” will be. And why not? It’s not as if the boss will reprimand us, is it?

While we should be working according to the career change road map we drew up at the beginning of the career change process, having someone who can follow up on our progress can help ensure we meet the various milestones we set out in that plan.

For instance are we doing enough networking? Are we doing all we can to chase down potential job leads? Left to our own devices we may not be doing what is needed, when it is needed.

We all need some prodding from time to time, and perhaps having to “explain” to someone else why a deadline may not be met, or something else may not be accomplished, could motivate us to lift our game, and get things done.

All with a little help from our conscience!