Many of us engage in reflection and preparation at the start of a new year. We set our sights on what we want to accomplish, and we imagine how we will remain accountable in the abundant months ahead. By the time January wraps up, however, we often find ourselves going back to the drawing board. Perhaps that perfectly planned morning routine isn’t all that perfect after all. Or maybe your intention to level up your skillset is being sabotaged by the pull of Netflix or Instagram. I chose to write this now, on January 27th, with the hope that I might inspire you (and myself) to continue to fine-tune our goals and our accountability methods. After all, this is the year of the GOAT — Michael Jordan, 23. Let’s channel that greatness and dive right in.
Accountability — What is it?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, accountability is defined as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions. The key words are “accept responsibility…for one’s actions.” Being responsible for your own actions is harder than it sounds. At least when you accept responsibility for others’ actions, there is a level of gray area because you are never in complete control. With yourself though… YOU are the only one to answer to. You are in complete control. That is the difference, and that is what makes it so hard!
The benefits of accountability
Adding accountability to a goal-setting routine will help increase your success. It is very much a mindset shift — Moving away from, “I could not accomplish my goal due to X,” and moving towards, “How can I accomplish my goal, despite X?” The main benefit is that you will develop a deeper understanding of your hurdles and how to jump over them. By accepting the fact that hurdles are inevitable, you can anticipate them, work around them, and even eliminate or alter them completely.
How to hold yourself accountable
Now that we’ve examined what accountability is and why it’s important, let’s explore how to actually practice it. These are a few tricks that I am working on to make sure that I hit my goals:
Find an accountability buddy: It’s easier to make sure you are taking the necessary steps to achieve your overall goals and hit your key milestones when you share them. Sharing with a partner whom you trust and admire will help establish an external focus and sense of pride.
Create a system for progress tracking and make it visible: It is very important to write down your goals and the milestones to reach in order to achieve the larger goal. I recently bought a whiteboard to write out my big-picture goals, milestones, and smaller weekly goals. I have it hanging in my kitchen, so I am constantly reminded of what I need to accomplish for the week and what I see as the larger-scale outcomes. I reset my weekly goals every Sunday, and the idea is to consistently achieve small wins that will eventually add up over time. The consistency and high visibility of my big-picture goals are acting as reinforcements.
The relationship between accountability and goal-setting
Based upon my developed whiteboard routine, my immediate focus will be to accomplish my weekly goals all the while keeping in mind the big picture. Every Sunday, I will reflect on whether I was able to accomplish what I set out to do during the prior week. If I did not accomplish what I had intended to do, I reflect on why I was unable to achieve my goal and I course-correct for the following week.
Additionally, check-ins and progress updates are important when holding yourself accountable, but I do something that may seem counter-intuitive at first. I write down my yearly goals in themed categories, and I only monitor them on a quarterly basis.
For example, one of my goals is to achieve a VO2 max of 52 this year. This goal falls under my health and wellness category. I will not obsess over this metric every day, but rather create a tangible weekly goal to build up my cardiovascular health. This week, my goal was to join the 5:00 AM club and get to the gym to weight train and run. Since marking my initial baseline, I have not monitored my VO2 max metric, and I will not formally record it until the end of the first quarter. At that point, I can gauge my numeric progress and re-assess the physical activity goals for the next quarter.
With this approach, I am not in servitude of metrics every day, and I am more prone to enjoy the journey. Note that I will still practice accountability to engage in the exercises that will yield a stronger VO2 max — I just won’t be staring at a pot of water waiting for it to boil, so to speak.
Overcoming the obstacles and hurdles
The main challenge is — When faced with a busy schedule, how does one stay accountable? There will always be that one work deliverable, dinner, or the want to hang out with friends and take a break.
Hey, you’re human! That’s okay!
The only way to stay sustainable is to not feed into hustle culture — you’ll just burn yourself out. You need to recharge. All I ask is that you recharge with a caveat — do not skip putting in the work for two consecutive days. The exception to this rule is if you’re on vacation.
Conclusion
In an era of hyper-productivity and self-care, there is a fine balance to unlock the benefits of accountability. You need a little bit of both to make sure that your habits are sustainable.
The TLDR for this article is this:
The benefits of incorporating accountability into the goal-setting process will help build a sustainable map to get you to where you want to go. Here are the three takeaways:
1.) Find an accountability partner
2.) Write down your goals and make mini-goals that are visible to you
3.) Do not skip putting in the work for two consecutive days