Five ways to harness the power of accountability (if that’s your jam)

This post started life as an episode of my podcast, Unfrazzle. If you prefer, you can listen here (7m 34s).

Have you ever had an idea that sat on your list for ages? An idea you hadn’t really mentioned to anyone, and kept putting off?

For a lot of people, when an idea exists only in your head, you have no reason to do it (beyond it being a great idea). There’s always something more important or urgent to be done, so that idea, however brilliant, never makes it to the top of their list.

This isn’t true for everyone – go to episode 105 of Unfrazzle to find out why – but when you get some accountability, that idea shifts from being just another ‘good idea’ to something you’ve committed to in front of another human being. If you don’t follow through, someone else will know about it. And being viewed as the sort of person who doesn’t do what they say they’ll do? For lots of us, that’s, not an option!

How do you know if accountability could help you?

Accountability doesn’t work for everyone, but for those of us who are great at meeting external expectations but not so great if we have nobody to answer to, it can work a treat. 

If you’re an Obliger in Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies, accountability is a strategy that can work really well for you.

To get an inkling of whether this is a good approach for you, see if you recognise yourself in any of the following statements:

• I don’t like letting people down.

• It bothers me if someone else sees that I haven’t followed through with a commitment.

• I work better under pressure.

• I sometimes find it hard to get motivated.

• I need a deadline, otherwise it won’t get done.

If you do, and you’re fed up of not making the progress you’d like, maybe it’s time you introduced some accountability into your life!

There are many ways to go about this, so it’s worth experimenting to find what works for you.

Here are my top five ways of harnessing the productivity-enhancing power of accountability:

1.       Get an accountability buddy

Find someone else who’s looking for accountability and agree to keep tabs on each other. Perhaps a weekly call is enough for you to keep each other on track, or maybe you’d prefer to keep in touch via email or WhatsApp at the end of every day. Agree on a format that works for you, start sharing your intentions and see what happens.

2.       Forfeits

Have some fun finding a forfeit that would motivate you to get things done! For instance, you could commit to cleaning your partner’s car or allowing your best friend to set you up with a blind date if you don’t do the thing you said you would do. Or how’s this for a genius idea, taken from one of Gretchen Rubin’s books? A mother told her son that if he didn’t see her exercising every day he didn’t have to do his homework! Another creative idea is to give someone a cheque made out to an organisation you’re absolutely opposed to. If you don’t do the thing you said you’d do, they get to post the cheque.

3.       Make a public declaration

Take to the ‘airwaves’ and tell everyone what you’re going to achieve today/this week/this month. Many years ago I had a Facebook group that encouraged people to do that. Do you have any spaces like that where that might work for you? Maybe you could hop on LinkedIn and tell everyone what you’re working on?

 This one is closely connected to the fourth way of harnessing accountability, and that’s to

4.       Tell your audience what you’re working on

This one is genius! If you’ve been wanting to create something in your business but never seem to get around to it, tell your audience you’re working on it.

As well as giving you the accountability you need to get it done, this can also create a buzz amongst your followers and help you see if there’s an appetite for what you’re doing. You could ask people to sign up to a waiting list for a thing that doesn’t exist yet. Tell the people in your paid membership that you’ll have new content ready for them by a certain date, so you know they’re expecting it. Or, if you’re feeling really brave, you could start selling something new before it even exists. I’ve done that myself a few times, and it’s worked beautifully. If you’re going to try that one,  you do need to be clear from the outset about what you’re selling and how it would benefit people, but that’s a good place to start when you’re creating something new, right?

5.       Work with a coach or mentor

This is a really powerful way of getting accountability (as well as expert advice and guidance) for developing your business or tackling an area of personal/professional development. This one comes with an added driver: usually you’ll have invested money in your coach/mentor so will want to get as much value as you can from your time working together. Financial motivation plus accountability to another human being who has your best interests at heart? A double whammy!

When you run your own business there’s often nobody to answer to but yourself (and your clients…but I’m guessing you have no problem meeting their expectations!).

Getting some external accountability, whether from a friend, business buddy, mentor or the wider community really can light a fire under you!

So, do you need some accountability to make the progress you’d like in your business? Which of these ideas appeals to you the most?

If you have a friend who’d make a great accountability buddy, please do share this episode with them!

As always, I hope that this helps and I look forward to seeing you again soon.