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Accountability
Yesterday I sent a text that I think I might really regret. You see, yesterday I texted two of my friends, who are really into running, that I wanted to run with them three times this week. Now to give you an idea of who these two friends are; they are the kind of people who ask you if you want to run a race, you say “No,” and they reply with, “Ok, so we’ll sign you up for the half marathon instead of the full!” So I knew the second I sent the text that there would be no way out of running this with them this week. The reason I texted them is because I needed someone to keep me accountable.
Yesterday was an incredibly lazy day for me, I was rather productive on my computer getting stuff done, but I barely moved all day. As the school year has been picking up, I have been less and less physically active. When my calendar fills up, exercise tends to be the first thing off of my priority list. But I am determined to change that. In the past, whenever I have prioritized being active, I have found myself feeling more energetic and happy throughout the day. But just because there are positive benefits to going on a run in the morning, it doesn’t make it much easier to get out of bed 2 hours earlier. That is where accountability comes into play. I think accountability is one of the strongest tools we have, but only a few people use it.
Although all in good fun, I know my friends are going to give me quite a hard time if I don’t show up to run with them at 7am tomorrow morning. If I just made a goal for myself, and told no one else about it, it would be much easier to snooze my alarm all morning. But now that I have a commitment to others, and not just myself, I am much more compelled to do it. I want to live up to the expectation that I created for myself.
Recently I heard someone describe accountability as giving someone permission to judge them when they fall short, but I could not disagree more with that definition. In my mind accountability is not something I use to remind me of my shortcomings, but rather to push me to be my best self.
So that is my challenge to you this week: seek accountability. Everyone has something they want to accomplish, so my challenge to you is to find someone and tell them your goals. Then ask them to politely and kindly encourage you and keep you accountable to them. Going about life and chasing goals on your own is really hard! Life becomes much easier when others know what you are striving for and can help encourage you along the way.
Stay Motivated,
-Dan
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