Accountability

When each year comes to a close and the new year begins, people worldwide all do the same thing:

Create New Year’s resolutions.

Let’s illustrate this by taking the example of two individuals who we’ll call Bob and Sue:

At the start of the year, Bob writes down his goal of losing 30 pounds in his journal. He doesn’t tell anyone, but he starts off on the right foot by exercising and eating healthy.

Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks, Bob started to get busy and made it a habit to get McDonald’s on his way home from work. He started telling himself he was too busy and stressed out to exercise properly and eventually stopped altogether.

After seeing Bob fail at keeping his New Year’s resolution, Sue decided to approach hers differently. Since her goal was to read a book each month, she not only wrote it in her journal but told her friends and family.

As time went on, Sue was stressed out from balancing all her responsibilities, including work, family, and friends. However, her friends and family continued asking about which book she was reading this month. They expected her to stay on track and encouraged her to do so.

Although this example may be silly, the message of accountability is strong and clear.

A large reason Sue was more successful than Bob is because she had people holding her accountable.

When we tell someone we’re going to do something, it becomes much harder to not do that thing.

If you plan on waking up at 6 am and going on a run by yourself, it’s so easy to hit snooze because no one is there to tell you otherwise. No one is counting on you nor are you disappointing anyone by not running.

But if you’re running with friends, those friends expect you to be there at 6 am. If you aren’t, you’re letting them down.

If you want to go a step further, write a contract where you agree to pay your close friend or family member 100 dollars every time you skip a workout without a valid reason. Or maybe it’s if you don’t finish your book by the end of the month.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not paying anyone 100 dollars if I can help it.

All in all, this is what accountability means: Having skin in the game.

And although having tangible things at stake works well, having your ego at stake is even more powerful.

This week, I urge you to tell someone close to you your #1 goal at this present time. By doing so, you will feel more obligated to stick to this goal, even if it’s subconsciously.

Although being held accountable by others is powerful, it can’t be the only thing you rely on. But after reading this week’s post, I hope you can appreciate it as a tool for growth.

If you want change, put some skin in the game.

Keep making progress. Change for the better. Live the Heming-way.

Til next time,

Trevor