You + Accountability = Success

Accountability and self-discipline are closely related and often both misrepresented as a character trait rather than a skill you can learn and improve upon. Why improve your accountability and self-discipline? Because without it you cannot achieve greater success or overcome the roadblocks you will inevitably run into. Here are 4 tips for developing your accountability muscle. Each of these will make taking accountability for your goals and getting closer to achieving them everyday that much more accessible.

Start Small

You've probably heard the term "take baby steps". That's the idea here. Break down your greater goals into smaller achievable steps. They will add up over time and move you closer to your ultimate goal. It doesn't matter what that goal is: losing weight, building muscle, improving your cardio, better flexibility, eliminating debt, deepening a relationship, getting a promotion, starting a business, travel more, buy a home, anything! Take that greater goal and ask yourself what you can do to accomplish it. Then ask yourself how you can make those steps even smaller and smaller and smaller until you have something that doesn't at all feel out of reach and instead feels natural to act upon.

Rope in a Friend

An accountability partner can be an excellent way to stay on track. You don't have to share a common goal, they just have to want you to succeed and be willing to push you when you start to doubt your path. They can make an excellent soundboard for ideas and help you build routines. They can be your cheering squad if that's the support you need. Set expectations at the start and offer to help them in return achieve a goal they have. This can make it a mutually beneficial arrangement and helping someone else can often give us more fuel to strive for our own goals.

Track Progress

Keep track of your accomplishments along the way. Too often we don't recognize all the small choices and steps we took to get to where we are. So when things don't seem to be happening as quickly as we like, we give up. We say it's not working. Instead, track everything you've done and how far you've come. This will help put things into perspective and truly analyze if something is actually not working or if it's simply taking longer than you'd like.

Reward Achievements

Acknowledging your progress is just as important as tracking it. Promise yourself small rewards for small achievements along the way. These act as incentive to stay the path, but also can provide assistance in acknowledging how far you've come. Just be mindful of choosing rewards that do not contradict your goals and that will not result in sabotage. For instance, if you're goal is to eat less sugar then candy would not be a good reward.