The Power of Accountability

By Ashley I.

“The #1 reason people quit on their goals is that there are no real consequences for their inaction.”

If you’re anything like me… sometimes is it really hard to find motivation or willpower to be consistent with healthy habits. Especially in the beginning. But what if you have someone else depending on you, too? It seems that we follow through a lot more often if someone else is holding us accountable than if we are doing it on our own. This holds true for so many things in life at work, home, with your friends and family, and most certainly with your health! You are much more likely to go to that exercise class if you are meeting a friend there than if you were going alone. While some people have enough willpower and desire to do it on their own, many of us need support and reason to follow through. For those of us in the latter group, being held accountable for things increases the chances of us actually following through by an astounding amount!

With that being said, no matter where you are in your journey, I encourage you to evaluate your level of accountability… are you being held accountable for the things you eat or for exercising every day? If you are, does it help you succeed and reach your goals? If not, do you think it would motivate you or push you harder?

When I first started my journey, I was lucky enough to have a friend that was well into her own journey and was there to support me. She encouraged me, taught me A LOT, and she held me accountable. She was my “Fitness Accountability Partner.” She wouldn’t tolerate lame excuses. Every day we would Snapchat each other at the gym or on a walk (however we were exercising that day), so that we were holding each other accountable for getting our workout in. Even on our rest days, we shared pictures saying something like “rest day” so that we were still acknowledging our routines and consciously deciding to make the commitment to our fitness. This worked really well for eating, too! Sharing picture proof of our meals regularly often times saved me from skipping a packed lunch to eat fast food because I knew she would be sending me a picture of her healthy lunch and I would have nothing to send back. This is just one example of how accountability worked for me.

Here are some examples of how you can use the power of accountability to reach your health and fitness goals…

• Find a “Fitness Accountability Partner”: Like my experience, find one person to hold you accountable for your everyday choices. Whether you use text, snapchat, messenger, phone calls, or talk to each other in person to share… find someone who won’t tolerate lame excuses from you! If you can't find someone, I would be happy to be yours ;)

• Get a Workout Buddy or Buddies: Having someone (or a small group) that you exercise with regularly will encourage you to SHOW UP and put in the work! You are both there to do it together, so if you skip out, you’re leaving your friend all alone. Not cool.

• Make a Bet: Put money on the line. The concept is simple (and oh-so motivating) … Hit your goals and you’ll win cash. Miss the mark and you’ll lose it.

• Share Your Goals on Social Media: Sharing your journey with others on social media isn’t for everyone, but for some people it works. If you’re telling 100 people about your goals, that’s 100 people that will notice if you quit or give up. It’s 100 people waiting to see you reach your goals. There are countless stories of people who only worked out on a given day because they knew someone would be asking about it.

• Let Others Track Your Workouts: Most fitness tracking apps come with a competition or leaderboard feature because, well, they work. Apart from entering you into some friendly competition, they allow the people closest to you to know if you’re sticking to your workouts. You can do this with friends, or with other people through the apps. The Fit Bit step challenge is a really easy one… if you’re up for some Fit Bit motivation, challenge Ms. Andrea to a step challenge. She will make you work!

• Join a Challenge Group: There are tons of groups out there like this. Beach Body is the biggest one that I know of. While most of them do cost something, such as purchasing 2 week’s worth of something like Shakeology, the idea of these groups is total support from everything fitness to nutrition. It’s typically all online and together as a group everyone logs daily workouts/nutrition and you have a coach checking in with you, sharing information with you, and there to answer all of your questions. This works well for many people… I can hook you up with a coach if you are interested in trying one of these programs out!

The great thing about Apple Ridge is that we have a whole TEAM of people to support each other. Find a co-worker with similar goals as you and commit to holding each other accountable! If you can’t find anyone… reach out to me! I would be more than happy to be your Fitness Accountability Partner, just as my friend was for me :)

• E-Mail Me: ashley@appleridgeacademy.com

• Text Me: (414) 534-2588

• Message Me On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashley.imme