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Accountability Partners: To Have or Not To Have
There are two camps and I found mine.
Are you the type of person who hates letting others down? Is it easier for you to miss a quiet, personal goal before you will disappoint someone else? If so, you would probably benefit from having an accountability partner.
It can be anyone, technically. But I suggest you find someone you love or trust, who also loves and respects you. Ask them to check up on you, or, better yet, schedule a regular appointment to review your progress.
A study I came across from The American Society of Training and Development showed that coupling your goal with a commitment to another person increases your chance of success by 65%. That number jumps to 95% if you incorporate a regular appointment with your accountability partner.
Another popular version of this advice is to build a social media following, collecting as many people as possible, leveraging peer pressure to accomplish a goal. The idea in both cases is that you’ll do everything in your power to avoid failing in the eyes of those you’ve invited along. If you’re the type of person that responds to external pressure, get yourself an accountability partner.
Fair warning, choosing the wrong accountability partner can derail your goals as easily as anything…
