The Power of Accountability

Have you been wanting to achieve something but you feel like you just don't have that last piece to push you to get there? Well, maybe accountability is the thing that you need.?

Today, we're talking about the power of accountability. You may be thinking, “Well, I already know all about that.” But what you may have forgotten is, that accountability in every area of life, towards every single goal you ever have, can be the thing that gets you there and helps you achieve it faster. Maybe, it's even more enjoyable.?

(I'm thinking about doing another blog on the disadvantages of accountability and how it can get out of hand and not be good for you. Let me know in the comments if you’d want that, and I’ll put that together.)

Some of the earliest times I had accountability was with my athletics. It continues today, but also in every area of my life. I've always had accountability because I was a pretty high-level competitive athlete (No, I didn't go pro or anything).?

One of the times when accountability was really necessary was when I played varsity rugby. We had off-season time, which was basically 10 months of the year. The season was only two months. To be fit for the season, we had to follow a full year-round fitness plan. It was intense. There were times when we bulk trained, meaning we lifted very heavy weights, low reps, in order to build mass or build bulk. There were times of the year when we looked to build our endurance or ability to be able to last through a full game at our full intensity.?

There were also times in the season when we built our speed, agility and rapid movements. Then there was the maintenance during the season when we just had to maintain where we were at. Throughout the season, our muscles were getting beaten up and injuries can come in. It's just maintaining where we're at.?

The coach wouldn't have us train with the team every single day. But we needed to do the plan on our own. The threat was that we would be having random fitness testing throughout the year. I’ll tell you, to be randomly fitness tested is scary if you are not keeping up with the fitness plan.?

Fitness testing included the 12-minute run: running laps. It also included the beep test for the short sprints. There were pull-ups, bench press, leg press and a whole bunch of other things. I can't remember it all now because that was over 20 years ago.?

But we had the accountability of these major check-ins throughout the year. We didn't know when it would happen. We'd get a call or email (this was before everyone used a cellphone), and they’d say, “Hey, we're doing a fitness testing in two days.” Well, if you hadn't been committed to the fitness plan, it's going to show. You're going to be weaker than you were before. I had to come up with some accountability for between those different times. Accountability to be going to the gym, pushing myself, and sticking to the plan.?

The funny thing is I joke with people and coaches that I don't like running, and that's why I need a coach to tell me what to do. I need to play a sport to push me because I'm going to run to get the ball. I'm going to run to chase someone down. I'm going to run hard to be able to shoot, but I'm not necessarily going to just go and run, so I needed something or someone to get me there.

The accountability was my teammates. We would commit to each other and be accountable to each other to meet. I had accountability with certain fitness classes and sessions.?

Over the years, I’ve had accountability with a personal trainer or accountability with a class. Having that accountability was crucial for me to be able to stay as a starter on the varsity rugby team, the highest point scorer in the league because of my kicking for posts and becoming an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) all-star. If you’re wondering, I grew up in Ontario in Brantford playing for the Harlequins and I went to the University of Western Ontario in London and played for Capilano in North Vancouver, BC. Over the years, I’ve known I needed accountability in not just sports, but in taking on some of my bigger business goals, like doing stand-up, writing a book and launching my elite Coaching Mastermind Program. I needed accountability from my coach, my mastermind peers and business advisors, and so on.?

Also, in my most recent fitness goals, I needed a coach. I needed accountability. That check-in where I posted photos of my food every single day, five times a day, and plugged in exactly what I ate and how much I hate. That accountability is crucial.

Side note, I want to let know that the doors are open for She’s Goaled 2.0. It is a coaching mastermind program like a speed course to reach your goals. They're small groups where you get the coaching power from me, the mastermind support of the group, and the accountability to be able to reach your goals.?

Six Benefits that Give You the Power of Accountability

As I go through these different benefits, think about where in your life could you benefit a little bit more from some accountability.?

Benefit 1: Trust and reliability vibes.?

If you think about accountability, it's really the glue in relationships whether you're dealing with friends, a boss, or maybe even clients. If you are able to be in that place of being reliable and accountable for things, other people will throw trust your way.?

If you're able to have accountability, in a goal or accountability with a team, and you are accountable to someone, and they see that, then they're going to start trusting you, and maybe sending referrals your way.?

Even if you're not getting accountability towards a goal, having just some accountability partners in your life, people that you're accountable to shows the type of person you are.?

Benefit 2: Boosting your performance.?

When you're accountable to someone else like a coach, business coach, life coach, or people in a mastermind group, it really keeps you from slacking off. Because you know, “Oh, I told them. They're counting on me to do this.”

What that's going to do is help you perform at that higher level. I know for me that that was a huge game changer for me with sports. Even in my business, if did a weaker job or I just slacked off a little bit, I would let myself down, but I never wanted to let them down.?

The accountability helped me because if I trained on my own, I might run slower or do less weight. But when I actually was accountable to others, and they would see my progress, I would be embarrassed if I was performing at a low level. I always perform higher for someone else. I always pushed harder for someone else. The same is true in my business. When I am accountable to someone, I do better. Where in your life, could you do better and boost your performance because you're accountable to someone??

Benefit 3: Captain responsibility.

You get to be the captain and the owner of the things you're responsible for. When there is accountability, you have to own up to your actions. It also means that everyone is responsible for their own piece if you're on a project and there's accountability on the project, in the team, or in a group.

They're going to look at you and ask themselves, “Okay, do they take responsibility for when things aren't going as they should? Are they steering themselves and us away from the trouble?” You’ll get the benefit for being their captain and so having that accountability with the group means that you're going to have more responsibility for your own actions, while others will be responsible for their actions.?

You get to take ownership, which is a great thing, rather than in a project not knowing who is responsible for what.?

Benefit 4: Learning loop.?

When we make a mistake, we want to be able to go, “Ah, oops, I did that wrong.” Then have that “AHA” moment of, “I should have done it this way or I could have done it this way.”

A lot of times without accountability, we will beat ourselves up and stick to the negative of it, rather than moving to the learning part. It's like, “I made a mistake. Oops. Ahhh, that's what I learned, and now I'm going to make this change.”?

We get to go back into it by having that learning loop. But if we don't, and we don't have accountability, then we don't have anyone else to help us move through it, or to not be so hard on ourselves. When you learn the ropes of something and learn the lesson in it, it's really going to help you get past it. Then you’ll keep going towards your goal.?

Benefit 5: Fair play.?

When you have accountability, there's more fair play in a group setting. When there's accountability, it's going to make sure everyone is playing by the rules. When you have accountability for you reaching one of your goals, you want to make sure that people you're accountable to are going to call you out. Call you out when you've done something that is just not in alignment with how it should be. Not necessarily calling you out on the mistakes because we want that learning loop to happen, but wanted to make sure things are fair, and things are done right.

If you are trying to cheat in some way, they're going to call you out. When I would work out with people who were my accountability partners, and they saw that I was maybe bench pressing, but using more of my back than using my arms and my chest, then they're going to call me out and go, “Hey, your form is not right.”?

This is also excellent for your own learning and your results. They're going to see, are you doing your fair share of things, if it's a group? Any rule breakers in a group setting will be called out for it, and maybe even given a timeout.?

It will help when you're going for your goals to make sure there’s fair play because you might not even know what you should or shouldn't be doing. You might be doing something that's going to hurt you in the end because you haven't done everything as it should be done.?

That might be the case for processes and systems or if there's been trouble in going towards one of your goals if someone else there. People can help give you some extra ideas, or share how that industry works, or the moral or value-centered way of doing something.?

Benefit 6: Transparency.?

Your actions will be transparent when they’re seen by others. It's going to help keep things super clear for you. No mysteries of, “Did I do that?” or “That didn't happen that way”.

People are going to know that you did or didn't do something. That's usually where we think of accountability. If you have an accountability partner for the gym, you're going to have to tell them you went to the gym or show you went to the gym, or you didn't. It's black and white. You did or you didn't.?

In this case, when things are transparent, it will help you get to your goals because you're not going to be hiding or kidding yourself. You're going to know when you're not going to reach your goal if you're not moving along. Your accountability can tell you.

Many times I've met people, and they've said, “Oh yeah, this year, I'm going to write a book” or “By next mastermind, I'm going to start my program” and then you see them next mastermind they haven't done anything. Well, it's because no one has called them out on it. Sadly they will let themselves down and they're not really seeing what the problem is.

Bonus: The accountability is going to actually keep you on track.?

I didn't add this earlier because it seems like the obvious reason. If you're not reaching your goals, if you're not even starting on some of your goals, it could be that you're lacking accountability, and someone to call you out on it.

When I work with clients, and they're not getting towards the goal, I need to call them out on it. That's the accountability factor. I had one client say to me, “I have a bad habit of cheating myself, letting myself down and not stay committed to what I said I would do. I want you to call me on my BS. So if you see that I am providing excuses, running around not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I want you to call me on it.”?

That's really what the power of what coaching is, to say, “Come on, why aren't you doing this?” I've had this in both ways. One way is, “You're not doing this as fast as you said you would be doing this.” On the flip side, I've had someone call me out for doing too much, “Hey, you need to like wrap that up, you're doing too much of that.” Or even, “When are you going to stop in this story, so that you can actually get moving forward?”?

Because sometimes we get stuck in the being, and when you do, just get into the doing. It’s vital to have someone outside of us see that and call us out. Even not just call us out, but call us forward toward where we want to go.?

I tell my clients, “I'm going to take a stand for you and your goals even when you don't.” That's the thing, having someone that you're accountable to that is not worried about hurting your feelings, and is strong enough to be able to call you out. That's why it's crucial that is not a best friend. It's not a family member. That it's someone outside of your immediate circle.?

That's why I hired the person I did for my health goals. I knew she's intense. I wanted to be called out when I didn't do it. Some of my clients will say, “I got everything done, but it was last night because I knew I was meeting you today. I knew I had to do it.” Perfect! They got it done, and accountability helped.

Well, can you imagine if we didn't meet? Do you think they'd be getting that done? Probably not.

Wrapping Up

There are a lot of reasons for the power of accountability. I hope you have accountability in different areas of your life. I encourage you to join the She’s Goaled 2.0, where you’ll get weekly accountability support so that you’ll reach your goals.?

It's not enough to have accountability once a month. It's not even enough sometimes twice a month. You're going to get accountability four times a month. Every single week, you get accountability. What I found is it moves people very quickly towards their goals in a way that is manageable. Because rather than you busting your butt right before you meet a group, maybe every quarter, this way, it's going to help you to have a consistent routine and effort towards your goals.?

Check out She’s Goaled 2.0. We'd love to have you be part of it.?

Read my other blogs:

1.?Diane Rolston Interviewed by Jack Canfield

2.?How to Boost Your Confidence

3.?Stop Measuring Your Life According to Your Success