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When most people think about getting in shape or losing weight, they typically think of the phrase “diet and exercise”. How many times have we heard a doctor say that this is the key to being healthy? We hear it on television commercials, on our doctors visits, in our schools, and countless other places. These are two of the pillars of health for sure, but I have come to believe that the missing piece for many people is accountability. It is not enough to know what you need to do. Everyone knows that they need to diet and exercise to be healthy. It is the accountability which keeps them from doing so, which is why it is crucial to consistency and a healthy life.
Accountability can take many forms. One comes from within. For some people all the accountability they need comes from themselves. They have a strong enough internal driving force that keeps them living the healthy lifestyle that will help them achieve their goals. Maybe they have a certain identity that they want to keep. Maybe they don’t want to be obese like their parents/friends/colleagues. Maybe it is a lifestyle that they grew up with and it was ingrained in them. There are a million different reasons why someone might drive themselves to be healthy but we know these people. They are the ones who have always seemed to be healthy. They have always gone to the gym, look younger than most of their peers, and never seem to worry about their health. These are the types of people who some will say have a “fast metabolism” or “good genes”. There is something inside of them that is all they need to keep them on the health train.
Another form of accountability is self created systems. Some people know that they struggle with the self discipline to continue to live the healthy lifestyle. These people have the self awareness to know that, left to their own devices, they will not always make the healthy decision. They put in place systems to counteract this. Maybe they have an app where they log their workouts and/or their food. Maybe they schedule their workouts in advance on their calendar. Maybe they find a program and make sure and follow it every day. Maybe they put reminders on their phone. Our Beach Body Challenge does this by assigning points for day to day activities. These people create a system that will hold them accountable by reminding them of what they need to do and highlighting when they don’t.
Peer to peer accountability is the next step up in the scale. By finding a workout partner, a diet partner, or an accountability partner people are taking their health and fitness somewhat out of their hands and sharing the burden with another person. These people know that they need someone else to call them out if they are not doing what they need to do. They give these friends permission to reach out to them if they are not showing up for their workouts, aren’t logging their food, or aren’t generally doing what they have committed to do. This can be a great way for people to continue to make progress because we will let ourselves down way before we let others down. Fear of ridicule can drive us to do things that we won’t normally do.
The next level of accountability is hiring a coach. By hiring a coach who knows more about a subject than you do then you can take the weight of making progress out of your hands and putting it on a coach. The coach’s job is to lay out the roadmap for you. All you have to do is follow it. A coach can create a shortcut to success. By listening to a coach who is further along in their journey, you can avoid making the same mistakes this coach has made. Obviously some coaches are better than others and finding a great coach who fits your personality and goals can take some time, but it can also be incredibly beneficial. It can save you the one thing you can never get back-time.
One other tool for accountability that you can put into place is making it painful. For many this can be financial. By paying for something we are much more likely to follow through with the thing we purchase. Obviously this amount can be different for everyone but by having some skin in the game it can make you much more likely to do something. Over the years I have gotten much more out of the courses and seminars that I have paid to attend than from free information I have seen on social media, even though many times the information was the same. Just the fact of paying for it caused me to focus much more and implement it better. Another option is to create some form of penalty if you don’t do something. This can be anything that will sting a bit if you don’t follow through. It can be financial but it doesn’t have to be. Maybe you can commit to wearing your colleges rival jersey if you don’t workout a certain amount of times a year and give permission to your friend to call you out. Maybe you have to cook dinner for your workout buddies if you don’t show up enough times. There are a lot of different ways that you can do this but simply implementing a penalty for not doing something will make you much more likely to do it.
Accountability is an incredibly powerful tool to help you achieve what you want to achieve. If you have something you are trying to do but cannot seem to make it happen then you might be missing this important piece to the puzzle. If you do have accountability in your life but it is still not helping you then I would consider escalating the level of accountability. It just might be the final piece to the puzzle that will help you get to where you want to go.
