#31DayReset Day 10: Find an Accountability Partner

This post is Day 10 of the 2012 edition of the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge. Learn more and sign up here.

Yesterday, you took inspired action by doing one thing to get to closer to your ideal life. Today, you’re going to take that concept a step further and build in some accountability for your long-term, sustained progress. Today, you’re going to find an accountability partner.

For me, my mom is the ultimate accountability partner in helping me get to the next level in my business. We talk almost every day and she knows how to ask me the tough questions about how I’m spending my time and reminding me of the goals I set out to accomplish this year. Of course, it helps that my mom is an entrepreneur herself, with a business that’s already earning six figures, which is where I want to be! I’m able to get so much more done knowing that she’s going to ask me about my progress on a regular basis.

Estimated Time to Complete: Varies

Today’s assignment is to find an accountability partner – someone who can hold you responsible for your own success and progress in pursuing your ideal life.

What is an accountability partner?

  • a friend, family member, co-worker, mentor, coach or someone else you can trust to help you keep a commitment
  • someone on the same path as you or simply willing to help you in your specific journey
  • someone who can help you stay on track toward reaching your goals
  • someone who stands firm and won’t let you get away with making excuses or procrastinating
  • someone who will ask you all those difficult questions we tend to avoid

It’s so important to have someone – paid or otherwise – to help keep you on track with your goals in life and business. It’s so easy for a year, five years, or even 10 years to go by and you still up there talking about how you’re “trying” to start a business, lose weight, get back into the dating game, etc.

There’s nothing wrong with asking or even paying someone to help you. It just means that you’re serious about your goals. And if you’re really serious about changing your life, wouldn’t you WANT someone to make sure you keep moving forward? Otherwise, it many never happen for you!

How to find an accountability partner:

  • Ask a trusted friend, family member, co-worker, or mentor to help you. Make an ongoing weekly or monthly appointment to share a “progress report” by phone or in person.
  • Hire a coach. The benefit of a coach is that she will be objective in helping you reach your goal, whereas sometimes our loved ones can have ulterior motives in the advice they give. It’s not on purpose or in any kind of malicious way, it’s just that they typically want what they think is “best” for you.
  • Seek out online communities where there are people who have the same interests and goals as you.You want to surround yourself with other people who are making positive changes in their lives, because they will be more likely to want to help you do the same thing. Personal growth is contagious! A great online community for black women entrepreneurs is Black Business Women Online, which is run by the fabulous LaShanda Henry aka Sistasense.
Take Action and Reflect: When you’ve secured your accountability partner, tell us who you chose and in the comments! If you already have an accountability partner, how did you find them? If you blogged about today’s assignment, please post the link in the comments so we can read it!

Want All the 31 Day Reset Exercises in One Place?

The Reset Workbook contains all 31 daily assignments in one place as well as 28 printable worksheets to supplement the material and help you complete the daily exercises. The workbook is 60 pages long and comes in an electronic, ebook format.

For those who may wish to go at their own pace, this workbook allows you to have all the assignments at your fingertips in addition to the opportunity to connect with others who are doing the 31 Day Reset program here on the blog. There are also a few bonuses, like the full version of the Life Mapping Workbook with a video training!

Buy the workbook here.
Want more posts like this?
If so, subscribe below and join over 2,000 women who receive blog updates on personal development, entrepreneurship and lifestyle. As a bonus, you'll get a FREE COPY of my 13-page Life Mapping Workbook to help you design your ideal life in 7 key areas.

15 comments

  1. It did not take me long to choose my accountability partner. It became quite evident to me who should be because as my life partner they know everything about me and know all of my goals, hopes, dreams. My life partner knows what I make excuses about and so it more able to call me out if I try. She is also going through a transition and as we grow together it just makes sense to me to have her be the one to take me task. We are pretty good at separating our roles when we need to and we know we cannot be each other’s therapist but we can be one another’s support as I feel a true partner should be.
    Read my latest blog post…lgbtlaughs:

    Surviving the World comic by Dante Shepherd. Text…

  2. My accountability partner is a friend from college. I haven’t seen her since college and she currently lives in NJ (I live in GA) but we reconnected through Facebook. She is one hardworking sister. She has two businesses and various different income producing activities. She is very motivating and I was so surprised to find out how much we have in common and how similar our thinking can be. She was the one who first asked me about being accountability partners a few months ago. We check in with each other often and use as a sounding board for ideas. Plus she is super funny and that is very helpful:)
    Read my latest blog post…Day 9: Do One Thing

  3. I’m currently looking for a coach. I want someone who is subjective and will not listen to my excuses.

    I also have a girlfriend who has similar values and beliefs. I am going to ask her to be my accountability partner.

  5. This was difficult for me, Im still searching for my accountable partner.. I guess I’ll make myself my accountable partner!

  6. Pingback: #31DayReset Day 23: Plan Your Reset Project | Happy Black Woman | Helping Women Design Their Ideal Lives

  7. My accountability partner is my best friend Torrie. She is honest with me at time to the point that I can not stand her, but it’s this honesty that keeps me going in the correct direction. She doesn’t let me beat up on myself, but she also doesn’t let me bull around and let myself off the hook. I can trust that she is going to push me to be great, because she believes in me and always has.

    We discuss our life plans already, and she supports my dreams even when they change suddenly. I love my accountability partner and I couldn’t have a better one.

  8. I chose my girlfriend Iman. She’s my biggest supporter and she’s capable of being objective. We already rely on each other for motivation and there’s no better person doe the job.

    Besides she asks me everyday “did you do yourexercise?”& “what did you do today?” She cares
    Read my latest blog post…Encouragement Today / Starting Fresh by T. Suzanne Eller

  9. Pingback: 5 Simple Steps to better Accountability | Photographer with a W-2

  10. Strange thing, today a coworker mentioned that they were starting a dietary change plan.I will offered to partner with them(during work hours) to be accountability partners sort off. Hope I can hold up my end of the accountability.
    Read my latest blog post…Day 9

  11. I found this a lot more challenging than I thought! Choosing the right person was key and although I have a great support network it took me a while to figure out who my accountability partner would be. It wasn’t one of my closest childhood friends but a young lady who I met and became good friends with 2 years ago. She worked as a chaplain at a school nearby and we bonded instantly.

    I know she has my best interests at heart and is spiritually grounded which is great too :)

  12. Already ahead of you on this one! ;) My former co-worker and I are accountability partners. Before she left the company, we would take lunch break walks and have conversations about what we wanted to achieve in life. Now we meet monthly to discuss goals.

    We’ve been meeting up with one another for the past 3 months for the “Meeting of the Minds”. Generally we discuss the goals we set from the previous meeting, how we can overcome problems, and set goals for the following month.

    Having an accountability partner has really made a difference.
    Read my latest blog post…Warning: 4 Small Mistakes That May Diminish Your Message

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *.

*


CommentLuv badge