30 Day Challenges Day 3 | Why Accountability Matters

Yesterday, I told you that after you set your goals, you should declare them. To shout your goals from the roof tops. To tell your mother. To tell the internet. Whatever it takes, you need to be loud and obvious about what you want to achieve. This step is all about accountability.

When you tell people about what you want to achieve, you do a couple of things.

First, you get other people excited about your project. And when other people are interested and excited, you are more excited. The joy in the project is contagious, and this is one of my favorite parts. The people you tell are your support staff. Your 30 Day entourage. These people want to see you succeed, want to be there when you need to vent, hear some advice, cheer you own, to celebrate at the finish line.

But even more importantly, when you tell people about your goals, you are instantly responsible for all of your actions as you work toward your goal. You are suddenly accountable for everything you do. Your positive and forward moving actions are celebrated. Your negative or backward movement can be reprimanded. Your decisions and actions are yours. You own the path you are on because others know about it.

That ownership makes all the difference.

Have you ever wondered how I’m able to have more successes than failures on this blog? Even when I’m doing something super crazy like giving up sugar for 30 Days?

It’s because I hold myself accountable. I take responsibility for what I’m working on because I know that you are reading. You are on your computer checking on me. I know that you’re out there looking at my Instagram or Facebook to see what I’ve been up to that day or that week. You are reading the blog posts wondering how I’m doing. And when I cheat or fail, I have to write about it here. There’s nothing I hate worse than writing about my own failures.

My accountability sits on my shoulder, pushes me forward for another step. It’s one of those tools I couldn’t succeed without.