Get ‘er Done with Accountability

You have an idea, you want to do this good thing to make the world a better place, but it seems like you just can’t seem to take the steps necessary to gain enough momentum to bring your idea to life. How can you get ‘er done with accountability?

It’s not unusual for someone who spends a great deal of their life serving others, to neglect their own personal projects. If this applies to you, you could greatly benefit by attracting others to support you and your project, not just encouragers, but accountability partners.

You wouldn’t let someone down who was depending on you to get something done, right? Instead of putting the needs of others before your own needs, you need to feel the same way about serving your own project and accountability partners can increase your obligation to make your project as important to you as someone else’s needs might be.

Your accountability partners are the individuals you recruit who are willing to basically keep you on track, following through on your intentions, and taking the steps necessary to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

You can select your accountability partner from your current circle of influence, such as family, friends, teachers, trainers, doctors or other professionals. For some, it is better to bring in an unprejudiced third-party to increase the accountability (and maintain a certain level of privacy and decorum) like hiring a coach, who is less likely to allow you to slack as much as someone who is more empathetic toward your plight. A professional will be more dependable, reliable and will help to keep you on track if you’re unable to find an adequate accountability partner in your current circle of influence.

When you make a deal with your accountability partner, especially if you have a tendency to not prioritize your own projects. If this is the case, you will need to create a system of checks and balances and your accountability partners can help raise the bar.

Because of your tendency to not follow through on your own projects, you will need to contract with them by giving them your word in your own integrity that you will perform a certain task, or do something specific, within a certain time line. You determine your own deadline, and you agree with your accountability partner, that you will perform particular tasks, or else.

Or else?

Yes, you make an agreement with your accountability partner in your own integrity to do something by a certain deadline or else you must pay the consequences for not following through. You create your own consequence, but it should be great enough (it should hurt) to persuade you to prefer and prioritize your task, increasing your accountability to yourself.

If you fail to follow through, as you promised, your accountability partner makes sure that you keep your word and pay the price for letting yourself down. Of course, the consequence would vary wildly from person to person, because a particular activity that would seem like punishment to one person, might be a cherished moment for someone else.

Since you’re less likely to do the right thing for yourself and you’re more likely to do something for someone else, your accountability partner is your someone else who can help you get ‘er done for your own project.

If you tend to procrastinate or put your own projects on the back burner, an accountability partner can make all the difference.

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