Quite often it happens that you make plans, strategies, and daily routines to achieve your goals, but you find yourself unable to stick to your promises. This is where the need for an accountability partner arises in life.
You go slow when you do it alone and you go faster when you do it with people who align with your goals and share the same mindset. An accountability partner is someone who holds you accountable for your actions and makes you feel responsible when you don’t stick to your planned strategies or schedule.
For example: you decide to wake up every morning at 5.00 a.m. Without an accountability partner, you may just press the snooze button and go back to sleep. However, with an accountability partner, you are answerable to them with what you do and don’t do with respect to your objectives in life. In such cases, this feeling of accountability will force you to jump out of bed and follow your schedule which will keep you on track with your goals.
In this blog, I am sharing 5 reasons why you need an accountability partner to be successful in life, 11 ways to become an accountability partner for someone, and 10 reasons why you shouldn’t choose your family or friends as an accountability partner.
5 Reasons Why You Need an Accountability Partner to be Successful in Life
Before understanding the reasons why you need an accountability partner, it is essential that you are thorough with knowing who is a good accountability partner after all.
Who is a Good Accountability Partner?
A good accountability partner is someone who shares similar goals as you and is on a quest for self-improvement and achieving success in life. A reliable, resourceful, trustworthy, goal-oriented person is likely to make a good accountability partner.
Many times you may find yourself stuck in achieving your goals because you don’t have someone to share the highs and lows of your journey. Thus, it is important to have an accountability partner who walks this path with you. Even studies suggest that people with accountability partner have 65% more chances of achieveing their goals as compared to those who don’t have one.
Now let’s learn about the 5 reasons why you need an accountability partner to be successful in life.
1. Helps you stay motivated
Let’s be honest, it can get mundane to work on your goals. Consistency is boring and there may be times when you would want to quit.
During these times, an accountability partner reminds you of your goals and motivates you to achieve them. It might be challenging to stay on track when working toward professional or personal objectives. Self-doubt, life’s ups and downs, and outside distractions can frequently cause motivation to falter.
At this point, having an accountability partner becomes essential as they keep you on board to your commitments and helps in maintaining that momentum. An accountability partner provides numerous basic elements that actively assist the motivation by creating a structured and encouraging relationship.
2. Support and Encouragement
When you embark on a self-improvement journey, it is inevitable to encounter many obstacles in your way. This is why it’s a self-improvement journey because you will have a new level of improvement to unlock within yourself.
An accountability partner will come into the picture in these tough times when you aren’t able to support and encourage yourself. They remind you of your purpose which keeps you fired up to achieve your goals and move forward in life.
3. Feedback
In the realm of personal and professional growth, feedback acts as a cornerstone for success. An accountability partner will give you honest feedback which will help you in pursuit of achieving your goals.
Their feedback and constructive criticism becomes your guiding light on this journey. It is what gives you a ray of hope when there is no light at all. They are there to remind you that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
4. Continuous Improvement
When you set sail towards your aims and goals in life, the most important thing is to improve yourself continuously. An accountability partner helps you with the same.
When you implement the feedback you receive, you grow continuously and propel yourself towards creating a life that will make you feel satisfied with your deeds.
5. Reduces Procrastination
A common obstacle in the pursuit of both personal and professional goals is procrastination. An accountability partner is essential for cutting down on procrastination.
A sense of accountability to another individual enhances your performance. Being aware that you must report your progress decreases procrastination and helps you stay committed to and focused on your work.
How Can You Be an Accountability Partner for Someone?
Maintaining open communication, providing steady support, and actively interacting with your partner are all necessary for being a successful accountability partner.
Remember that the role is to empower your partner to take responsibility for their goals, to support their growth along the way and not to dictate how they should behave.
11 Ways to Become an Accountability Partner for Someone
1. Lead by example
Even though you’re an accountability partner for someone, make sure you hold yourself accountable too. You can be in a mutual partnership with the person or you can hold yourself accountable for your actions. This builds trust and the person whom you are mentoring will respect you and learn better from you.
2. Open Communication
The secret ingredient of being successful in your pursuit of becoming an accountability partner for someone is to maintain honest and open communication with them about their strengths and weaknesses. Be true to them and don’t sugarcoat.
3. Maintain Confidentiality
If you want to become a good accountability partner to someone, then maintain confidentiality as it builds trust. You should limit your knowledge about their progress and failures to yourself. Don’t break their trust by sharing their shortcomings with others.
4. Constructive Feedback
You can encourage your partner by giving constructive feedback without demeaning them. Instead of being rude or harsh to them in any manner, make sure you share genuine feedback with them.
5. Empathy and Active Listening
Being empathetic is a strong skill. You don’t learn it, it is one of those few life skills that is developed from your surroundings. It is the skill you acquire as part of your upbringing. Active listening, on the other hand, is a skill you can practise and improve.
As an accountability partner, recognize your partner’s challenges, emotions, and worries. As you listen to their struggles and problems, be a helping hand and provide them assistance. Show empathy during their low moments and a pillar of support and strength to them.
6. Monitor their Progress
A good accountability partner is someone who gives space but at the same time is alert to monitor their partner’s progress. Be attentive to help them in devising strategies and refining their approach as per their progress.
For example- If you want to lose weight, then make sure to check weekly on the growth, cheat meals, and diet schedule and components.
7. Be Resourceful and Supportive
As an accountability partner, you must be ready to go above and beyond for your partner. Create and accumulate resources for them based on their requirements to achieve their goals.
Right resources will only accelerate your partner’s growth and make it easy for them to continue working. Your support to your partner will only make them feel more confident to succeed.
9. Celebrate Small Wins
Make sure you encourage them by celebrating their small wins. When you indulge in working on your goals, it is easier to overlook tiny achievements and only have your eyes for the big goals. However, it is important that even if they forget it, as an accountability partner you make it a point to remind them and celebrate even their smallest milestones.
9. Punctuality
As an accountability partner, it is crucial that you respect the deadlines and be present on time. Thus, be careful to arrive on time and show consideration for your partner’s schedule if you have established deadlines or scheduled meetings.
10. Similar Goals
It is more advisable to have an accountability partnership when sharing similar goals. This will be mutually beneficial as you both are more likely to feel each other’s mindset and perspectives towards things. This similarity in the goals will only give you a win-win viewpoint towards life.
11. Personalised feedback
As an accountability partner, you must learn to give personalised feedback. This personalised approach will only help them in improving from their past mistakes.
Can You Hire an Accountability Partner?
Yes, you can hire an accountability partner as it would be more professional and will be more accurate which will help you achieve success in life. Even some online platforms and apps offer this service. You can explore that too.
10 Reasons Why You Should Not Choose Family or Friends as an Accountability Partner
When you search for an accountability partner, the first person that may come to your mind is a family member or a friend. But, they may not always be the best option to walk this journey with you. Here are 10 reasons that will tell you why family or friends should not be an accountability partner.
1. Being lenient
There will be moments of distress in your self improvement journey. Usually, your close ones can’t see you stressed or under pressure. They might become lenient toward you which will hamper your growth.
2. Lack of Professionalism
When you assign your family or friends as your accountability partners, they may (sometimes) not be able to provide you with professional guidance required for your growth. Their lack of expertise in the field can easily hold you back.
3. Lack of Shared and Similar Goal
You feel more comfortable with an accountability partner who has similar goals as you. You might be an engineer and your friend might be a teacher. Dfferent aspirations give different goals and views about life and success, this can become an hindrance in your journey of personal development.
4. Comfort Zone
When you are with your family or friends, you are in your comfort zone. You will rarely find yourself in a space where you’re pushing your boundaries. But, my friend, growth happens out of your comfort zone.
5. Fresh Perspective
Your family and friends may love you so much that they can show bias towards you. An accountability partner, on the other hand, should be unbiased and true to you. Thus, when you choose someone out of your circle, they can provides you a different point of view and a fresh perspective which may broaden your thought process and make you more fired up to achieve your goals.
6. Fear of straining Relationships
Entering into an accountability partnership with a family member or acquaintance may strain your family dynamics. Holding each other responsible could cause stress or strain, affecting the interpersonal relationship and leading to lifelong grudges. This fear of ruining the relationship may prevent honest and open conversation which can directly impact your growth process.
7. Potential Prioritization of Relationships over Goals
It’s possible to unconsciously prioritize the relationship over the accountability partnership. To preserve harmony in the relationship, people may refrain from confronting or questioning each other, which could compromise the success of the partnership.
8. Deviating from your Goal
With your friends and family working with you, you may choose to have fun and enjoy during work hours instead of working towards your goals.
9. Mixing of personal and Professional lives
To be live a peaceful life, it is essential that you maintain a distinct line between your personal and professional lives. Mixing both up can screw both.
10. Limited Networking
Your network is very important to your success. They don’t call it your net worth for no reason. If you tend to choose an accountability partner in your family you may be missing out on people that may help you grow and expand your potential.
Conclusion
I hope I made a successful attempt at explaining an accountability partner and an accountability partner.
Becoming an accountability partner and having one for you, either way both are mutual relationship that requires a symbiotic approach where you both benefit from each other.
Your growth is not an overnight phenomenon, nor is it limited to any date or time. Your growth is a continuously evolving process and you can only work towards it by being true to yourself.
Choosing a reliable accountability partner is a very small but crucial aspect of this whole process. Thus, I hope whoever you choose for yourself aspires to help you grow and inspires you to stay committed to your goals.
