When it comes to achieving your goals, what support do you have in place to help you do what you need to do?
- Having someone to check in with
- External deadlines to meet
- A framework to work with
- Relying on your own discipline
Your motivation changes from day to day, depending on how much time you have, your energy levels, internal and
external factors.
The gap between your good intentions and taking consistent action is filled by having a framework in place for support and accountability.
It can be as simple as someone checking in and asking: “How’s it going?”
Or someone who understands what you're trying to achieve and supports you along the way. You also need someone to fight your corner and remind you that every setback is part of the process, not a sign you've failed.
Why Support and Accountability Matter
1. The Myth of Willpower
Discipline and willpower aren't enough on their own. Various studies have shown that willpower is finite and reduces over time. You need a system in place to ensure things keep going when your motivation and willpower are low or for those days when you're struggling.
2. Support Gives You Perspective
When you share your goals it's easier to see the blind spots or opportunities you might have missed. A mentor, coach or peer can often highlight something you're not able to see when you're stuck in your own way of thinking.
3.
Accountability Builds Consistency
You're far more likely to get things done when you’ve agreed with someone else what you're going to do. Regular check-ins, setting deadlines or sharing progress updates, helps create the motivation and momentum that discipline on it's own can’t.
4. Reduces Isolation
Your challenges are reduced when you know others are either experiencing something similar or are there to support, encourage and keep you moving forward. You feel less like you're having to do it all on your own when you have external support and shared wisdom to guide you along the way.
5. Practical Support Structures That
Help
- Join a mastermind or coaching group of like-minded people.
- Share your goals with a colleague, mentor or coach on a regular basis.
- Set up regular progress updates with reminders so you get into the routine of being accountable.
- Use shared tools to track your progress for added
accountability.
Having a framework of support and accountability creates the right environment for you to track your progress, be more productive and achieve more than doing it all on your own.
Asking for Support and Accountability
It's all very well being Independent and pushing through on your own, especially when things are tough, but there's a difference between independence and isolation. It's a sign of strength to recognise your own shortcomings or skills gaps and ask for support.
Athletes work with a team
of coaches, trainers, nutritionists and therapists. Having the right support and accountability in place, improves their results and it'll do the same for you.
Being accountable changes the “I’ll get around to it ... sometime, later” into “I’ll report back to you by Friday.”
Support also provides a sounding board so you can change or reframe a challenge, or solve a problem in five minutes, particularly when it's something you've been turning over and over in your head for weeks, wasting time and getting nowhere. A simple question, a change in perspective, makes all the
difference.
Build your support system
If you want to make steady progress, stop trying to do it all on your own. Here are three simple ways you can build or strengthen your own
support system.
1. Identify your accountability partner(s): a coach, mentor, peers or managers you can check in with regularly.
2. Set clear commitments: share them and create deadlines and milestones so you can track your progress.
3. Celebrate: make sure you celebrate the small wins, not just the end goal. Look for encouragement not criticism.
Growth and success is not a solo sport. The most effective people know they don’t
succeed alone and recognise the strength in support systems.
This Week:
As part of your weekly review, make a note of:
- Who was part of your success this week?
- Where did accountability kept you on track?
- What help or support did you receive?
- Where do you need more of both?
It's easy to celebrate the final outcome or achievement without recognising everything and everyone that make it possible. An actor doesn't win an Oscar on their own, there's a whole production team behind them that are part of
the success.
