“I believe that accountability is the basis of all meaningful human achievement.”
Sam Silverstein
Whenever I find myself in a slump and I don’t want to do anything, I often ask my friends and family for help to give me the push that I need. I found that whenever I ask for someone to keep my accountable, my productivity skyrockets and I’m able to achieve things that I never thought were possible.
Practical Ways to Keep Yourself Accountable
- Contracts
With someone close to you, ask them for a quick favour. Make a contract that publicly states if you don’t complete X task, then you’ll receive Y consequence. For example, I once told my friends that if I don’t finish my assignment before a certain time period, then I’ll give them a monetary reward.
By doing this, my motivation has increased substantially which allows me to get my work done. Even if you end up violating your contract, the work you get done is often higher than it would have been if you didn’t make a contract in the first place.
- Accountability Partners
Oftentimes, by having someone who can always keep you accountable, that helps motivate you to keep the work you need. On a daily or weekly basis, an accountability partner can be someone who talks to you about what your goals are and then check up on you after a certain period of time to see how you’re doing.
Now I know that someone will check up on me, it essentially forces me to do my work. Unless I had a valid excuse, it is often pretty painful to say that I didn’t finish what I wanted and it’s even worse if it because of laziness. I don’t want to tell them I did nothing because I was lazy as that would be letting them down.
- Shared Habit Trackers
For a habit tracker, I find them most accountable when you show your progress towards others. I don’t want people to see a long streak of my incomplete habits, so the only option I have that is left is to put in the work and stay consistent with my habits. This also gives me the incentive I need to complete my habits because I want to be able to show and be proud of my accomplishments that I’m able to stay consistent with the habits that I want in my life.