June 16, 2005
Accountability as a Motivator
If you are trying to reach a goal, being accountable to someone can be a great motivational tool. Our natural tendency to not want to look bad in someone else's eyes or be embarrased by failure is sparked when we "announce" a goal to the world at large.
Announcing my intention to drop my body fat to under 10% within two months to the online world and tracking my progress here in detail has been a huge motivator for me, making me press on and redouble my efforts where I might have otherwise been much more lazy about it.
Think about it... this is a method used in the business world as a matter of course, although there the stakes can be different if we don't meet our goals: loss of prestige, being passed over for a raise or promotion, or even loss of a job. There it's accountability to your boss or manager.
Whether your job consists of working on an assembly line or being a project manager, you are accountable to someone else and you have measurable goals and progress points. If you have to build 100 widgets by 5PM and by noon you've only built 30, you know you'd better hustle if you want to make your quota by the end of the day. If three weeks into a six week project you've only completed 10% of the work, ditto.
Why not apply these principles to personal goals as well? Map out an acheivable plan with a target goal, and let people know what you plan to do.
If you need to lose 30 lbs, don't go nuts and plan to lose it in a month and surprise everyone... you'll doom yourself to frustration and failure. Instead, be conservative and shoot for 1 1/2 lbs a week of weight loss, do the math (20 weeks), and then announce that within 6 months you're going to go from pudgy to "buff".
You don't have to bore everyone with the details, but pick one or two people you're close to and report your progress to them, whether good or bad. As long as you're making a serious effort and doing the work you'll find that they'll be supportive and help you keep going.
