Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to find gentle accountability. Lots of people find
Speaker 1: it easier to stick with their goals and habits if
Speaker 1: they know that other people are expecting them to There
Speaker 1: is no need to take extreme measures. Almost any bit
Speaker 1: of accountability can be helpful. A few weeks ago, I
Speaker 1: hosted my annual time tracking challenge, when thousands of us
Speaker 1: tracked our time together for a week. I encourage people
Speaker 1: to sign up for daily motivational emails from me, and
Speaker 1: I posted my own time logs on my blog. I've
Speaker 1: been doing this challenge for ten years now, and I've
Speaker 1: had several people tell me that they do it each
Speaker 1: year and find it helpful for tweaking their schedules. Now,
Speaker 1: on some level, that is a little strange, because if
Speaker 1: you know time tracking is helpful, why wait until January
Speaker 1: to do it? What is it about the fact that
Speaker 1: thousands of other people are tracking their time that makes
Speaker 1: it feel more doable? Because that's honestly all it is.
Speaker 1: Knowledge of the crowd and daily mass emails. As I
Speaker 1: tend not to be following up with individual people and
Speaker 1: checking in on their timelogs daily and such. And yet
Speaker 1: I know that even this gentlest level of accountability is
Speaker 1: helpful for people. That's why I often write rough drafts
Speaker 1: of novels in November, which was historically National novel writing Month.
Speaker 1: Even a little accountability helps. So if you have something
Speaker 1: you want to do, see if you can find just
Speaker 1: a gentle layer of accountability that makes you feel like
Speaker 1: you are not shouting into the void. One very simple
Speaker 1: approach is to find an accountability partner. You do not
Speaker 1: have to live in the same place. You don't even
Speaker 1: have to talk to each other, though of course you could.
Speaker 1: You just commit to sending each other an email once
Speaker 1: a week or so to say what you have done
Speaker 1: and what you plan to do. This person can encourage you,
Speaker 1: congratulate you when you have achieved your goals, and just
Speaker 1: as important, nudge you to get back on track when
Speaker 1: you stumble, and you can do the same for them.
Speaker 1: You can go a step further and form a small
Speaker 1: accountability group. Again, you don't have to live in the
Speaker 1: same place. You can just check in once a month
Speaker 1: by zoom and say what you have done and what
Speaker 1: you intend to do. It's not like these people have
Speaker 1: any power over you, but in general we tend to
Speaker 1: respond to positive support and encouragement. You could even find
Speaker 1: a challenge that someone is running. I'm your goal pursuit
Speaker 1: to that challenge. Maybe it is a six week boot
Speaker 1: camp at your gym, or maybe it is a thirty
Speaker 1: day walking challenge at work. Maybe it is a short
Speaker 1: writing class that will help you shape an essay for publication.
Speaker 1: By the end, look around and do your research and
Speaker 1: see if there are other people doing what you want
Speaker 1: to do. This might be worth investing a few resources
Speaker 1: in to make it happen. Now Again, on some level,
Speaker 1: this is all kind of silly. It is possible to
Speaker 1: write a novel any month, or to stop drinking any month,
Speaker 1: even if it is not dry January. There are no
Speaker 1: real teeth to an accountability group, and yet people find
Speaker 1: it helpful not to do things alone. So find some
Speaker 1: gentle accountability, and it is just possible you will be
Speaker 1: more likely to achieve your goals in the meantime. This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback. You can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.