Conquering your goals: Accountability

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well. This week in our Conquering Your Goals series we are talking about accountability. If you have not completed the posts before this, please do so in the order they have been posted so you can follow along better. 

Accountability here means taking responsibility for working toward your goals and staying on track. It’s about being honest with yourself (or someone else) about your progress. Honesty is the key driver of accountability, there is no accountability where there is a lack of honesty and this is where we often struggle, being honest with ourselves is hard. Being honest with ourselves is hard, especially when goals get tough, but it’s a crucial step in making real progress. To ensure we are being honest, we need an external system of accountability. The key is to get out of our minds, stop relying on our thoughts, and have a more concrete view of our progress. Internal motivation is great, but having an external reminder, like a friend or app, makes it easier to stay consistent.

Here are some ways you can stay accountable

• Using tracking Apps. For example:
  • My fitness pal/chronometer for tracking calorie intake if you are trying to gain or lose weight. 
  • Fitbit or the likes of it for tracking steps to measure progress
• Use a planner to write down your money spent every day to stay on track for financial goals
• Telling your friend about your goals and asking them to check in (Pick a friend who’s reliable and willing to give you that nudge when you need it!)
• Joining a community focused on achieving the same goal as you. If you wish to run, see if you can join a running group. 

In short, if you can find some metric to track daily that relates to your goal, you will end up with a very solid accountability system. The goal is to keep the metric realistic, simple and easy to track. For example, if you have a steps tracking tool, you can easily track your steps but if you don’t, pick a different metric or buy the tool. Don’t worry if apps or planners aren’t your thing. The key is finding a system that works for you, even if it's just writing in a notebook or setting reminders on your phone.

Making it visual

Creating any one system of accountability is excellent but you can take it to the next level by adding a visual element to it. So you would take the tracking you are already doing but put it somewhere visible so you are more aware of your progress or lack thereof. 

For example, if your goal is to reach 10,000 steps every day. You can buy a calendar, hang it somewhere visible, and write down the steps you took every night before bed. This in itself can act as an outside motivator and aid to your interest in progressing towards your goal

You can view the calender template here, copy it, and edit it to keep track of your goals! I recommend using a physical calender (or even print an online one) and hanging it somewhere you 

Tracking at your lowest counts the most!

There are going to be days when you fall off the wagon when you are so behind your goal that it feels embarrassing to track the day, that is when you must track it! We allow ourselves to make mistakes, we accept our shortcomings but we do not turn a blind eye to them. If your goal is to spend 1 hour on your screen but instead it was an 8-hour day, you track that 8 hours! 

📣Tasks for you

1. Think of the goal you have set for yourself. Tell us an accountability system you will use. Be specific! 
2. How will you make it visual? (keep the tracking somewhere where you see it regularly)

This post is part of the Conquering Your Goals Series. Check out all the posts here.