The thing is Accountability is critical to your fitness and health success - especially if you have some big goals that you're trying to accomplish! Can you do it alone? Sure...but why go it alone if you don't have to? There's at least two times recently that accountability played a big part in my fitness. Both times were Saturday mornings that I had scheduled runs with others and both times I know without a doubt that I would have skipped those runs if I hadn't already promised others that I would be there. And then of course I can't discount the #1 accountability piece that I have built into my goals recently: Coach Tiffany. I know that I have to report back to her my results and it automatically makes me want to work just a little harder and not slack off as much as I typically do.
When you share your goals with others that have like-minded goals of their own, they lift you higher than you can lift yourself. And before you think that you have to tell every single person you know about your goals whether they support them or not, you don't. Accountability comes in many different ways:
BLOGGING: yup, I use this space to help keep me accountable. Knowing that I have put some hard and fast goals out there to any readers makes me want to work hard to not let those goals just fall by the wayside. Especially if I come back and provide updates on a regular basis...I certainly don't want to come back and here and be all "I suck". Yeahhhhhh, I really don't wanna do that. LOL
CHALLENGE GROUPS: there's pretty much a different challenge group for everyone's needs. I've been a member of Coach Jenny Hadfield's challenge group on Facebook for the past two years and that group is great for accountability! I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to slack off and I get on there and read all the posts from challengers talking about getting up and working out and it totally makes me want to too! Find a group, let them know your plans even if it is just the day, for the week or long-term - share your goals and then report back on how you're doing!
SOCIAL MEDIA: Will some people on your friends list get sick of hearing all about your workouts? Yes, possibly. But you know what - they can just keep scrolling on through and if they really want to they can even call it exercising if it makes them feel better about it. hahaha The reality is that you will also have a group of people that will cheer you on and keep you motivated towards your goals. And even if absolutely nobody says a thing - YOU KNOW that you said you were going to do x and you broadcast it to the world...so you know you need to do it, right? :-D
FRIENDS & FAMILY: If you have some friends and family that will back your plans, then by all means - include them in assisting you! I told you all a while back how I set up a plan with my husband to earn rewards for exercising. My sister and I, including my Mom for a large portion of time, have been workout accountability partners. We try to get together at least a couple times a week and have run several family workout challenges for points and rewards. And guess what, it WORKS. Because we are competing with each other, and encouraging each other, it makes it so much easier to keep going when we want to quit.
The reality is that when you feel like you have people "depending" on you, you work a little harder.
So find someone - whether it is in real-life or virtually, whether it is a single person or a whole group to share your goals with, your strategy for getting there, and then ask them to keep you accountable to those goals. Set up a PLAN for how often you will report in, how you will report in, and anything else that you need to ensure you will be checking in with your partner on a regular basis. And then be accountable to not just your person, but most of all, be accountable to YOURSELF. Stick with your goals, keep working your plan and you will find success!
Question: Who are you accountable to for your fitness and/or health goals?
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