Accountability
The Bridge to take you where you want to go.
I create a lot of visuals about consistency, highlighting the differences between the ideators and the doers. As a result, I get a lot of “How Questions.”
How do I become consistent?
How do I become a doer?
These are fair questions.
The first step to becoming consistent is understanding that our willpower will not always be reliable. Our will to do something can dissipate as quick as our attention span.
Logically, the next step then is to take action against this very human limitation.
Here are four tips to consider if you want to be more consistent:
Identify Your Vision & Write it Down
Without a North Star, you are not going to be able to focus on the necessary action to get the transformation you want.
If you want to go from a couch potato to a marathoner in 6 months, well you need to know that you want to become a marathoner.
Oh, and don’t forget to write it down. Psychology says you are more likely to do something if you write it down.
Break down your vision into bite-sized tasks, then break them down again…
If we continue with the example above, we now know that we have allotted 6 months to become a marathoner.
6 months is a defined amount of time and it is divisible by months, weeks, and days. So let’s break it down:
For the sake of this example, let’s say we need to run 80 miles a month in order to be ready for our first marathon 6 months down the road.
We have now broken our vision to become a marathoner down to:
I need to run 80 miles a month for 6 months.
Great! So how will we achieve 80 miles a month? If we break it down into weeks, we know that we will have achieved this number by running 20 miles a week (approximately).
And to run 20 miles a week, we will need to run 4 miles a day x 5 days a week on average.
At this point, we no longer think about our vision. Rather, we focus on our task at hand. We must run 4 miles a day, 5 days a week. This is the input necessary for your transformation into a marathoner, and is the only thing I need to focus on moving forward.
Set up your environment for success
Setting up your environment to optimize for your goal is key. Environments play a big part in whether you are going to get something done, or waste away in procrastination.
You can utilize environment design to reduce friction of getting something done, or to increase friction to prevent you from doing something.
Going back to our marathon example, you will need to run 5 days a week. During those 5 days, you should think about doing things like:
making sure your running outfit and gear is picked out and ready the day before to reduce the friction of getting ready.
making sure your calendar is blocked appropriately to give you enough time for the run, shower, and recovery (yes, calendars are part of your environment albeit digital in most cases).
making sure video games and other enticing activities are not front and center in your house. Rather, they are put away in closets where friction is created should you desire to play in exchange for missing a run.
Find an accountability partner
This last tip is what made an absolute difference for me in my consistency. Maybe it’s cheating the system, but my accountability partner when I started visualizing ideas was my wife. I was always the one to start something for a week and retire that endeavor for something new. I sabotaged myself by destroying momentum and not allowing what it was that I was doing to compound.
But sticking to one thing, despite not seeing huge success right away, is TOUGH. The instant gratification monster is no joke.
A good accountability partner, however, will set you straight. That person, if doing their job correctly, will make sure you steer clear of new shiny objects and stick to the path you outlined to them from the beginning.
Accountability partners will ensure you make the progress you told yourself you would make.
And the instant gratification monster is powerless to this. You’ve made a commitment to not only yourself, but to another human being. This act alone makes it all the more difficult to call it quits.
And if your accountability partner is anything like my wife, well, be prepared to throw away any excuses you may have up your sleeve and get things done!
I hope these tips help you in whichever endeavor you want to pursuit. They sure helped me to get to where I am today.
The power of consistent compounding & momentum is truly beautiful.
Cheers,
Elliott