The Power of Accountability

In my career as a Personal Trainer, I am asked all the time about ways to insure the success of any fitness program. While there are several factors to help make a fitness program effective, today I wanted to focus on one of the most important and hardest thing you can do to help stay

 on track. This can even be applied to other areas in life to a certain extent!

So what is this winning method and how can you use it to your advantage?

It's "Accountability"!

The dictionary defines accountability as "your ability and willingness to accept responsibility for your own actions." In other words, you hold yourself accountable and responsible for what you do and the results, may they be favorable or unfavorable, are directly related to what you did.

Oprah Winfrey once said ”My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."

So how do you hold yourself accountable?

In short: Speak Up!

Let your plans be known to others. By others, I do not mean blasting it all over social media, although you can definitely do that. Let the important people in your life, whose opinion really matters to you, know what you are about to embark on and ask them to check on your progress.
  
Take the Total Transformation Challenge program, for instance. Going through your Total Transformation Challenge alone is not the same as going through it with the help of others.

Let your friends and loved ones know about your plan and intentions to take on and complete this 12-week program. Call that special someone and say something like “Hey, I am starting a healthy transformation program to … (fill in your goal; to lose weight, to get stronger, to see my abs, etc.) The program is 12 weeks in length and has several challenges. Can I ask you a favor? Please check on my progress periodically. Ask me how am I doing with my challenge”
 
This person will become one building block in your safety network that will help you during the program. You will find yourself thinking twice about actions that could jeopardize the success of the program knowing that now there is someone else who is interested in seeing you succeed. This person becomes a point of accountability to you.

One thing I have noticed in most participants who have completed the program successfully, they all shared their decision and plan with someone else. They made themselves accountable to others.

I know this sounds easier said than done. Some might even think it's downright a crazy and scary idea to discuss something so personal, like weight loss, with others. After all, who wants to blast something like "I am doing this to lose weight" out in the open? However, that is where the beauty of accountability lies.

As I said before, a discussion with your inner most trusted friends, family, and loved ones would prove so valuable throughout the program and afterwards. If that is not enough and you are feeling adventurous, then go ahead and share your plans with bigger and wider audiences like your coworkers, your classroom or even a social media post. The bigger your circle of support, the better and bigger your safety net becomes! Think about all those contestants on a popular TV show about the biggest weight loss. They bare it all, on national TV nonetheless, in order to make themselves accountable to finish what they started.

Before I conclude, here is homework for you. If you are planning to do the Total Transformation Challenge, then think of at least five people that you would share your goals with. Go ahead! Write their names down. Feel free to add more names. The bigger the safety network, the better the support.

Please let me know, in the comments section, about any questions, comments or concerns you may have. Also, feel free to share your own experience of accountability and how it helped you with your plans.

Happy Healthy Transformation!
Your Trainer,
Rami