How do you Stay Accountable?
Staying accountable is hard for all of us. Each year we set New Years Resolutions and by now we have forgotten them. What can we do to change this? What can we do to be more realistic? Today I am going to share what has worked for me, and can work for you too.
This year instead of a New Year’s resolution one of my girlfriends suggested to a group of our high school friends that instead of setting a resolution for the year we instead set them for a month at a time, and so we decided to go for it! On the first of each month we email our intentions to one another, halfway through the month we check in and keep each other motivated with support, tips and advise and at the end of the month we have a check in to see how well we have done.
Over the last four months I have seen eating habits change, I have seen people quit smoking, a friend has gone vegan, people have began to exercise more frequently, I myself went vegetarian for a month and have not had meat since February 28th and have become a huge fan of yoga after setting a goal of doing a backbend by the end of March.
So the reason I am sharing this today is because we all need to realize that you can not do everything on your own. It took me up until this year to finally learn that, and I still struggle at times, but this group has taught me it is not only ok to ask for support it is a actually a GREAT practice, it is wonderful to support others and in essence will help you in your own journey.
Now, I have told people of this group of friends that I have and I hear things along the lines of, "that sounds like fun but I don't think my friends would be willing to do it", "I don't have the time to make changes in my life". Well I am going to tell you two things;
If you don't ask your friends or family then how do you know they wouldn't be interested? Still not sure, then email me (hintofgreen@gmail.com) and together we will set goals and hold you accountable each month
Everyone has time to make change, you just have to figure out what matters most to you, what are the things you tell yourself you are going to change? Go to the gym more? Eat better? Cook more? Contact friends or family more frequently? Meditate? Trust me, I know how much one month can change a person In the past 4 months I have made more change then in the last year and you can too!!!
And now for some accountability fun, an App of course, because lets face it, there is an App for everything! So go check out Streaks, it is a calendar that you mark off days that you are doing something, check out one of my calendars.
Now start thinking of what you want to be accountable for in May and we will check in soon to see how you are doing.
xo,
Lauren Courtney