This is a popular time of year to set new goals, and establish new habits. But too often, those goals and habits are forgotten before Spring! Don’t give up this year! This could be your year to make it happen, and here is one great tool to help you get there:
An accountability partner is someone who will keep you in check and make sure you reach your goals. They can be a family member or friend or a business colleague, but whoever you choose to be your accountability partner, make sure to come up with a plan.
You should have regularly scheduled meetings with your accountability partner, I recommend weekly in person or phone conversations to go over everything accomplished the prior week, and then setting a timeline and task list for the upcoming week. In addition to the weekly meetings, I recommend a daily email relationship to check in with your accountability partner.
The whole purpose of having an accountability partner is to set you up for success, accomplish your tasks, and reach your goals. Make sure that you give some sort of penalty in the event you don’t complete what you said you would. For example, each week at your meeting, you and your accountability partner together can assess goals with prizes for getting there the previous week penalties for not getting there. Here is a suggestion: If you meet for a meal, you have to buy dinner if you don’t meet your goals. But if you complete all your tasks that week, your accountability partner buys dinner or you get 20 bucks, or whatever. It has to be enticing enough to make you want to achieve your goals. So make it personal, it doesn’t have to be money related if that doesn’t drive you to get your stuff done.
Accountability partners are good for anything you want to achieve; it could be a gym partner to keep you accountable to your workouts, a nutrition coach to keep you accountable to your food journal, Or could be a business accountability partner keeping you accountable for things you want to achieve in your work life. This can apply to really anything you struggle with, whether it be relationships, behaviors, like smoking for example, basically anything you really want to be better at.
If you don’t have someone in mind to do this with you, a friend or family member, you can always hire a coach to help you out. I offer those services quite reasonably and you can find more about it here.
Whatever you resolve to do in the year 2014, I encourage you to do whatever it takes to get there. Stay the course, stay focused, hire some help if you need it, and see it through to the finish line! Make 2014 your best year yet!
I highly recommend you must read the eBook on what you need to have for starting a business in Tampa, I believe you’ll get a lot out of it. If you haven’t claimed yours, go and grab it now for free! See you inside – I can’t wait to start working with you! We’re better together!
Excellent article! Accountability partners are beneficial in all areas of life, especially when these partners are uplifting, motivational and honest. 🙂
This is an awesome idea! love it
I do have an accountability partner and it works. Makes me realize that I’m going to have to explain myself if I didn’t accomplish what I intended. And if I did meet my deadline, I get some applause.
I think is a great idea. People think of this for weight loss, but not for their business. This is fabulous! How else can you stay on track without someone really making sure that you are sticking to it!
Enjoyed your post Holly! accountability vs responsibility. sometimes we can get confused between the 2. I like how you defined the structure. great job! Patricia
The thing I like about coaching (having been a client and now a coach myself) is that your coach brings absolutely no baggage to the relationship. I tell people, “Don’t try this at home!” because what starts out as a great accountability partnership soon devolves into (perceived) nagging, which then destroys not just the accountability relationship but possibly the personal relationship as well. Hire a coach! It’s the best investment you can make in yourself.
Great article!! thanks for sharing! 🙂
It’s not too late to have an accountability partner at this time, or is it? Thank you for sharing this!
Jackie is a friend of mine online that helps me focus… by also her group that she offers. It’s helpful to have folks that will help you keep on track and then have a great support group like your family and friends.. they are usually a little different. Good post
I love having an accountability partner because it’s an additional way to make sure that both parties get things done. At the same time, it’s also an amazing opportunity to share, bond, and build a beautiful relationship with another individual.
in my opinion, there’s a big difference between an accountability partner and a coach. I think both are necessary, but maybe not during the same time period. GREAT article, and great tips!
I love accountability partners and have been using them on a regular basis for the last 3 years. It works, thanks for posting!
It’s a great way to ensure you stay focused. Thanks for sharing.
I have three sets of accountability partners! One for my business, the other for my health, and the third for my creative work.
Comments are closed.