Who is your accountability coach and buddy?

In my childhood, I was fascinated by Vikramarka and Bethala stories. It's about relentless effort of a great king Vikramaditya, who promised a tantric that he would capture and return with Bethala (Evil spirit). The King believed that kingdom would be saved by bringing Bethala to the sorcerer. He was willing to risk his life for the greater good by getting rid of deep-rooted evil.

In the mid night, the king would walk to the graveyard, secure the dead body (home of Bethala) on the treetop, and carry it on his shoulder towards tantric's place. On the way, the spirit in the body would tell him an interesting story with a question at the end that goes beyond logical and ethical thinking. If the king answers the question, the spirit will disappear with the body, back to the treetop. If the king knew the answer, but didn’t speak, his head would be broken into thousand pieces (spell from Bethala). Every time, the king would answer the question, the body with spirt would disappear to the treetop and the king would get the body again. This repeats 25 times until silence is the answer for the last question. The essence of those stories is greater good, righteousness, living with values, applying common sense, and more importantly, not to give-up.

As I was in my morning run, I was thinking of how easy it is to run, but difficult to do cross-train alone. With extended family relocating from New York to Indiana and late-night sleep made it difficult to get up in the early morning hours. It was easy for me to take a couple of steps from the bed to mute the alarm clock and go back to sleep. During those moments, I thought about my cross-train coach Ben, who would come-in early morning, prepare detailed workout circuits on writing board for 8 people in pairs and each activity would start with two names listed. My workout buddy David would be expecting me to show up.

I couldn’t walk back to bed with two people counting on me. I turned to other way to get ready for morning regime. That was the most difficult part, and the rest was easy with a 5 mins drive, an hour with eight highly energetic and motivated individuals, and a lot of sweat and endorphins at the end. The day started good with the first win and continued for the whole day. Without my coach and buddy, workout would have been a hit or miss. Accountability principles are applicable for family, career, and spiritual wellbeing as well.

What is common in Bethala story, and my workout is accountability partners (Coach, Buddy, mentor etc.). King had accountability partners; tantric and Bethala. Even Bethala can’t be alone without a body. You don’t have to do everything alone. Find right people who would transmit positive energy and support you to accomplish your desired outcomes. Thank You @Ben Weaver and @Epic buddies for your support in my physical transformation.

What am I doing to identify my accountability partners?

One of the assignments from my executive coach was to create a list of people whom I respect and enjoyed working with. It turned out to be 100 most influential people who changed my life, both personally and professionally. I already had calls and connects with some of them and will re-connect with most of them in the next few months. I am blessed to have countless people who inspired and added value to my life every day.

If you can dare to dream, you can achieve anything.

Few steps to start with…

? Take time to get clarity on what is that you always wanted to do.

? If you are not sure, write down things that you don’t like to do and apply negation (For example, change your statement from I don’t like to sit and read a book to I love to walk/run and listen to audio book.)

? Talk to people whom you enjoy working with. They will tell you what you are good at and what you will enjoy more.

? Most important part is to WRITE and SHARE with people you value.

Start identifying a mentor, coach, buddy who is in the field of your interest and meet folks who can bring fresh perspective. A thousand-mile journey would start with the first step. Need help on the first step? Read Ikigai and other books from @my previous article.

There is no replacement for action and the famous quote from Nike “Just Do It” can be your everyday mantra.

If you like this article, go one step further and write a word about what resonates/inspires to take the first step.