Find gentle accountability

Get help and support from others for achieving your goals

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to find gentle accountability. Lots of people find
it easier to stick with their goals and habits if

(00:25):
they know that other people are expecting them to There
is no need to take extreme measures. Almost any bit
of accountability can be helpful. A few weeks ago, I
hosted my annual time tracking challenge, when thousands of us
tracked our time together for a week. I encourage people

(00:47):
to sign up for daily motivational emails from me, and
I posted my own time logs on my blog. I've
been doing this challenge for ten years now, and I've
had several people tell me that they do it each
year and find it helpful for tweaking their schedules. Now,
on some level, that is a little strange, because if

(01:09):
you know time tracking is helpful, why wait until January
to do it? What is it about the fact that
thousands of other people are tracking their time that makes
it feel more doable? Because that's honestly all it is.
Knowledge of the crowd and daily mass emails. As I

(01:30):
tend not to be following up with individual people and
checking in on their timelogs daily and such. And yet
I know that even this gentlest level of accountability is
helpful for people. That's why I often write rough drafts
of novels in November, which was historically National novel writing Month.
Even a little accountability helps. So if you have something

(01:54):
you want to do, see if you can find just
a gentle layer of accountability that makes you feel like
you are not shouting into the void. One very simple
approach is to find an accountability partner. You do not
have to live in the same place. You don't even
have to talk to each other, though of course you could.
You just commit to sending each other an email once

(02:16):
a week or so to say what you have done
and what you plan to do. This person can encourage you,
congratulate you when you have achieved your goals, and just
as important, nudge you to get back on track when
you stumble, and you can do the same for them.
You can go a step further and form a small
accountability group. Again, you don't have to live in the

(02:39):
same place. You can just check in once a month
by zoom and say what you have done and what
you intend to do. It's not like these people have
any power over you, but in general we tend to
respond to positive support and encouragement. You could even find
a challenge that someone is running. I'm your goal pursuit

(03:01):
to that challenge. Maybe it is a six week boot
camp at your gym, or maybe it is a thirty
day walking challenge at work. Maybe it is a short
writing class that will help you shape an essay for publication.
By the end, look around and do your research and
see if there are other people doing what you want
to do. This might be worth investing a few resources

(03:24):
in to make it happen. Now Again, on some level,
this is all kind of silly. It is possible to
write a novel any month, or to stop drinking any month,
even if it is not dry January. There are no
real teeth to an accountability group, and yet people find
it helpful not to do things alone. So find some

(03:47):
gentle accountability, and it is just possible you will be
more likely to achieve your goals in the meantime. This
is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our time. Thanks for listening to before Breakfast.

(04:13):
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback. You can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

(04:35):
listen to your favorite shows.