The Benefits of Having An Accountability Partner
Your accountability partner holds your feet to the fire and makes sure you complete what you said you would complete.
An accountability partner is someone who gives you encouragement when you need it, motivation to finish your tasks, and a boot to the ass when you don’t finish what you were supposed to finish.
An accountability partner is like a gym partner: he’s there to spot you on bench press, he’s there to yell at you to “push that weight up!“, he’s there to give you a helping hand on the last rep or two, and he’s there to tell you “you had way more in you! You better finish that set next time! Now spot me, I gotta hit 12 reps no matter what.”
An accountability partner is a person you do not want to let down.
With an accountability partner you must have something to lose for the plan to work.
If you respect you accountability partner a great deal then the friendly competition is enough fire to keep you going.
You can make friendly bets with your accountability partner. For example: “If I don’t finish this I’ll give you a crisp $20 bill.”
An accountability partner is there to call you on your bullshit. If you say “..well, I didn’t finish because of this and that..” you accountability partner is there to say “Brother, that’s bullshit. You know it’s your own damn fault.”
When you finish your big goals your accountability partner is there to say “That’s great, brother! I’m damn proud. What’s next on the horizon?”
An accountability partner can be a friend, a brother, a father, or even an internet stranger. But it’s got to be someone that will hold your feet to the fire.
You can meet up on Saturday nights to drink some Whiskey, go over everything accomplished that week (person who didn’t accomplish buys drinks), go over next week’s plans and action items, and then go holler at some beautiful blonde babies.
You can meet up for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and go over plans. Who ever didn’t accomplish what they said they would accomplish buys.
You can smoke cigars and go over plans after a Saturday Barbecue.
You can fire off e-mails Sunday evening / Monday morning to your accountability partner and review everything that has happened this week and what needs to happen next week.
You can fire off e-mails first thing every morning to detail what you must accomplish that day.
It doesn’t matter if you meet in person, speak over the phone, or use e-mail to review your plans and action-item lists, but e-mails are a must to send off your daily must-do list.
The goals have to got to be specific and clear. Nothing like “I have to be more confident“. More like “I have to say ‘hello’ to every beautiful blonde baby I see“.
I’ve got to get my company website going this week…
I’ve got to follow up leads on at least 10 new clients…
I’ve got to hit the pavement and drum up some business…
I have to specifically do such and such…
I’ve got to accomplish or die this week.
You’ve got to do the same for your partner.
You’ve got to hold their feet to the fire. Make sure they do what said they were going to do.
If they don’t accomplish what they set out to they’ve got to give you that $20, buy your whiskey, or, even worse, they lose their pride and got to gain it back.
You don’t need an accountability partner, but having one can be a nice asset in your motivation and accomplishment arsenal and can help to fully visualize and realize your goals.
Even better than having someone hold your feet to the fire is the active review you must do of your plans. The simple act of seeing your plans, speaking your plans, or typing your plans and the plan to accomplish them can make productivity sky-rocket. ‘To-do’ lists are an absolute must and having an accountability partner is a way to insure you prepare your all important ‘to-do’ list every week.
The people who love to go to the gym and train alone won’t need an accountability partner.
The people who like having a gym partner will have use for an accountability partner.
Other people will fall in between. Experimentation is key to finding what is way to be productive.
The accountability partner system is based on the Honor Code. Honor is for men. If your accountability partner has no honor and lies to you to avoid the shame of losing then you’ve got to find a new one. The system cannot work without honor.
The accountability partner system is a way to keep your feet to the fire and accomplish all those small goals that build up to something big.
Keep your BIG goals to yourself. That’s for you and only you. After you put your plans into action is when you are allowed to talk about them. Never talk about big plans before they have been put into action. That’s what motormouths do. That’s what talkers do. That’s not what walkers do.
With the big plans you are your own accountability partner. You’ll hold your own feet to the fire and you’ll do or die because that’s how it’s done.
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Nick
I have two brothers. If i have a plan, I tell them. Because if i don’t follow through, they never let me hear the end of it. I’m still getting carved over broken plans that i made when i was in my teens. Although teasing, it is still a reminder of past wrongs and the need to right them next time.
Another good post, compadre.
Boom! Brothers will do.
Solid post. Something to add, having a public blog really helps too. For a while I posted how well I had completed the main task and next day’s task on a blog. No one ever read it, but someone ‘might’ read it and I just plain enjoyed bashing out a little post explaining how awesome I was today.
Finding an accountability partner for my business has been tough. So many of my mates have either got their girlfriend’s pregnant in their early 20′s and are now working soul sucking jobs to support the nagging bitches or working soul sucking jobs for no good reason. Practically every guy I meet either works a dead end job or welfare and has no ambition or aspirations. I did meet one dude at my sailing club who is a doctor at age 25, but all his mates are bums. I tried to join an ‘entrepreneurial group meeting’ last month but the organizer gave up on it due to lack people each month.
This generation sucks.
On the upside it really doesn’t take much effort to outdo them.
Russ,
The internet is a wonderful thing that can provide for the shortcomings of the real world. But it sure is lonely. This is generation empty / generation zero and it’s my goal to help people get onto the right path.
Good post..Unfortunately, most guys my age (19) are too busy smoking weed, playing video games and other stupid shit..so my partner will probably be alot older
Nothing wrong with that. Older people are smarter than younger people anyway. That’s just a law of nature.
To James and Russ where are you both from? In my country, NZ, it just gets worse and worse with people around my age (I’m 22). People around my age are sheep. They all talk, act, dress and are into the same crap. Drinking and clubbing is religion and If you hate/don’t do what everyone does everyone thinks you are “anti social” or “weird”. Because of that, I’ve picked only a handful of people I can call friends…but fudge me it’s not just here in nz huh? I blame music and media…and weak willed people.
Anyway I love holding myself accountable for whatever I do. Whatever gets accomplished, for me and my friends, gets told and celebrated with feasts on poker night! It’s a good idea with saying your plans on a blog though. Might give that a shot!
C,
re: I blame music and media…and weak willed people.
I’ll tell you what I think it is: It is the complete and total emasculation of white men starting from the time they are young boys in school and continuing every single day and every single time you turn on the tv. We are taught specifically that boys are bad and that being white, in particular, is the cause of all the worlds ills - which couldn’t be more opposite of the truth. The simultaneous glorifying of women and girls (You go girl!) self-esteem into the stratosphere leaves a huge, monstrous gap between the sexes with men having no real pride and women being completely and utterly miserable with no idea why. It is because the roles have been strategically reversed starting with your school books. You cannot really change the sexes but you can sure make each sex feel lost and miserable because they are acting in an un-natural way.
With no family to care for, provide for, and protect and no strong male role models leads to the lazy, party lifestyle where the under 30′s just go out and get drunk and hook up and just act like dirty animals. Or they stay inside and lose themselves in video games and porn. Boom.
PS - I’ll have a post coming today or tomorrow about starting a blog. You guys should all do it. I’m real tired of seeing blogs where guys are talking about finding their spirituality, the benefits of yoga, being more communicative, talking about their “online journey”, being vegetarian and all that other nonsense.
I’m from Nigeria…and you’re right..growing up, I always felt like an outcast cos everyone else was on facebook and they went to parties and all that stupid stuff. Fortunately, I wisened up(thanks to people like Victor Pride)..I’m going to pass on all that stupid shit(exept the ocassional ass once in a while..lol) cos like my dad aways told me, fun ain’t goin nowhere..now is the time to sow seeds..This upcoming year,we all need to start walking the walk and start turning our dreams into reality…the time has come to start taking ACTION…
VP- I definitely agree with your point of view 100%. I don’t really watch T.V (and growing up I watched a shitload plus was addicted to video games) but whenever I glance at it now and from way back then, it seemed like people always were exactly like the protaganists on T.V sitcoms. For instance, I got no clue which shows but I’ve just briefly saw two and the protaganists were fat lazy guys that drank a boatload. They pulled all the females. So now apparently being fat is in! I had a girl saying she hated guys with abs and preferred one with more meat…regardless if she was telling the truth or not that still made me sick. Anyway what you’ve said is basically every where around me.
James - we all can’t pass up on that occasional ass once in awhile! As for facebook..aw wow I can tell you heaps of stories about people being on it all day, having relationship issues and even having “online relationships” I’m positive you’d have many too! Too right this year is a year we are taking action! Let’s all go for it!