If you want to improve the likelihood of you taking action and achieving your goals then you need to look at how to include accountability in your life. Not sure how? Well, keep on reading as I’m sharing a number of different ways you can use accountability to achieve your goals.
WHY DOES ACCOUNTABILITY WORK?
Accountability works because most people want to keep their word when they have told someone else about what they plan to do. It is easy to let yourself off the hook when you are the only person who knows what you are meant to be doing. However, the moment you tell someone else about your plans and you ask them to hold yourself accountable you have increased the stakes.
HOW CAN YOU USE ACCOUNTABILITY IN YOUR LIFE?
When it comes to adding in layers of accountability there are numerous ways you can do it. Below I’ve outlined four different accountability methods you can try.
1) FIND AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER
An accountability partner is a great way to start adding accountability into your goal-setting process. I first started having an accountability after reading The 12 Week Year. In this book, it talks about the power of an accountability partner so we worked together to follow the 12 Week goal setting model and then would check in on each other once a week.
2) JOIN A MASTERMIND
When it comes to mastermind there are two options: peer-led masterminds and paid masterminds. In my experience, both can work, but if you are in a peer-led mastermind you’ll need to ensure there are strict rules so your sessions are focused.
The reasons why masterminds are so powerful is rather than having made a declaration of your intentions to one person you could have said it to 5, 10, 15 or maybe even 20 people. Now you probably won’t have the same depth of relationship with those people are you would your accountability partner, but knowing that there are more people holding you accountable and waiting to see what happens means the stakes are even higher.
3) USE AN ACCOUNTABILITY APPS
If you are a tech lover then you might want to check out accountability apps. The awareness around the value of accountability means that now there are a number of different apps all designed with the purpose of holding you accountable. A very popular accountability app is called StickK. On this app in order for you to feel the pressure to do what you have declared you are required to set a stake and some people do this in the form of money. I think this is a really interesting concept and if you are someone who isn’t bothered about what other people think, but don’t want to lose money they this might be a good option for.
4) MAKE A PUBLIC DECLARATION
Now maybe you don’t feel like you know the right person to have an accountability partner or the right people to start a mastermind with. Now in that case you might need to use the internet to be held accountable. One thing that has worked really well for me in recent years is making an online declaration. If you have any sort of online following (blog, email, social media) then let them know what you intend to do. I find this to be highly effective in helping ensure I deliver on time as I really don’t want to let my followers down.
