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How To Increase Your Chances of Achieving Your Goal By 85%

Updated: Aug 14, 2024




One of the main obstacles along anyone’s journey of transformation and wellness is finding a way to stick with your plans.


When you’re first starting out, it’s usually easy to get excited. You’re finally ready to change your life! You start learning a lot and making all kinds of plans. At the beginning, many people find that they have the energy and motivation to stick with these consistently. It may not always be easy, but you’re able to make it happen.


As you keep moving along your path, things tend to change. That beginner's energy often starts to wear off. You know that you need to stick with your plan, but it can get a little more challenging. Some days, you may be super tempted to “cheat,” or to just give up on your plan for the day. Very quickly, you can find yourself sliding back into your old unhealthy habits.


I’ve seen this happen to quite a few clients over the years.


Fortunately, there are some great tools that can help you to stick with your plans. One that I’ve found very helpful is having an accountability buddy. Without my accountability buddy, I’m sure I’d have slid back into my old unhealthy habits much more often.


So what’s an accountability buddy, and how can they help you along your health journey?

What’s an accountability buddy?

An accountability buddy is someone who helps to keep you accountable to your plans.


Being accountable simply means that someone will know whether you stick with your plans or not. Often, when we go on a transformational health journey, we feel like no one even notices how hard we’re working. It can be difficult to stay motivated to keep up that effort when no one is cheering you on. You might feel like you may as well give into temptation – no one will know anyway. 


We humans are social creatures. We get energy from others. When we’re doing something along with someone else, it becomes a lot easier to stick with it than when we’re doing it all alone.


Basically, you and your accountability buddy make an agreement. You’ll report to each other about your plans and your progress. You can choose how often you check in, and what you check in about. Many people do a daily check in with their buddy, or even twice a day if they need more support. As you progress along your journey and your habits become more solid, you could move to checking in less often.


The check ins can be as simple or as in-depth as you’d like. For example, maybe you’ve both committed to taking a 20-minute walk every day. You could text each other pictures from your daily walk. Or maybe you send a quick text when you’ve completed your daily workout, or whenever you’ve reached your goal of eating five pieces of fruit or vegetables that day. These are examples of simple check ins that don’t take much time.


Another option is to call your buddy regularly – either over the phone or videochat. You can share your progress towards your goals. For example, you could share what type of workout you did the previous day, and what your plan is for that day. You could also do something similar for food, sleep, or any other health goal that you have.


It’s ideal to have a buddy that you meet up with in person. For example, if you decide to take your daily walk together, then you’re almost certain not to miss it. However, this isn’t always practical and won’t work out for everyone. The most important thing is to find a way to stay in touch with your buddy and share about your journey regularly.

How does an accountability buddy help?

When you succeed at sticking with your plans, your buddy will celebrate your wins and cheer you on. This positive energy will help to keep you motivated. Many people find that the prospect of telling their buddy about their success is sometimes what makes them actually stick with their plan for the day. You’re more motivated to go out for that walk if you’re excited to text your buddy the photo.


When you slip up, your buddy certainly shouldn’t shame you or make you feel bad – the intent is never to tear each other down. However, just knowing that your buddy will find out about your slip ups may help you to avoid making them. Most of us don’t want to let someone else down, and we don’t want other people to see us fail.


And when you do fail to meet your goals – this happens to everyone from time to time – your buddy can help you to figure out why this happened and encourage you to make a different choice next time.


Studies have actually shown that having an accountability buddy can help you stay motivated along your journey. The American Society for Training & Development found that people have about a 10% chance of achieving a goal if they’ve simply decided upon the goal. This goes up to 50% if you develop a specific plan for achieving it. Telling someone about your plan gives you a 65% chance of achieving the goal. If you specifically share your progress with them regularly, that goes up to a whopping 95%.


In other words, if you have an accountability buddy, there’s only a 5% chance that you won’t reach your goal. Compare this with the 90% chance of failure if you never get farther than setting the goal, without a specific plan. Making plans is powerful, and having someone hold you accountable to those plans is even more powerful.

My accountability buddy

To help you understand how this process works, I’ll share with you about how my own accountability buddy and I support each other.


I have a history of emotional eating. In fact, I felt really deeply stuck in this pattern when I was in my 20s. I benefit from having support in sticking with my healthy eating goals, to help me avoid reaching for unhealthy foods to deal with feelings like stress and anxiety. 


My accountability buddy and I check in with each other every morning. We share what we’ve already eaten, and what our meal plan is for the rest of the day. We also share how the previous day went – for example, maybe we slipped up and ate something we weren’t planning on, and then we’ll talk a little about why we think that happened. We set an intention to stick with our healthy eating plans for the rest of the day, and we encourage each other to do that. 


Our daily buddy check in only takes a few minutes, but it’s definitely powerful in helping me to stay on track. Having an accountability buddy makes me feel like I’m part of a team. If I find myself considering having some sweets to handle my feelings, being on a team can help me avoid the temptation – I don’t want to let my team down. If I really need support in the moment, I can even reach out to her for that.


I also benefit from her positive energy and encouragement. When we’re going through a health journey, it can sometimes feel like no one else even notices how hard we’re working. I share my successes with my buddy, and she celebrates them with me. This helps me to feel truly seen and appreciated. 

Who should be your accountability buddy?

In many cases, people choose an accountability buddy who’s on a similar health journey to their own. 


Maybe you and your buddy are both trying to eat healthier, or maybe you’re both trying to start an exercise program. Your goals don’t have to be exactly the same, but they’re often similar. This way, you’ll really feel like you’re on a team. You can help to keep each other motivated, and encourage each other along the journey.


At the same time, it doesn’t have to be a reciprocal thing. Instead, you could choose someone who has knowledge and experience about the journey that you’re undertaking. For example, your buddy could be a friend who’s previously gone through their own health and wellness transformation, and now they’d like to pay it forward and support you.


You can also choose to have a professional help keep you accountable during your health journey. For example, many people benefit from working with a health coach, personal trainer, nutritionist, or therapist. This usually involves checking in at least once a week.


If your buddy isn’t someone who’s also going through a health journey, you might not have quite the same feeling of being on a team with someone. However, you’ll still have someone to celebrate your successes with, and to reach out to when you need support for making good choices. If your buddy is a professional or is someone who has already successfully gone through the journey that you’re committing to, you’ll get the benefit of their wisdom and advice as well.


The most important thing is to have someone else be a witness to your journey. Ultimately, this helps you to keep the promises you’ve made to yourself.

Finding your accountability buddy

You might already have an idea of who would be a good accountability buddy for you. However, it’s not always easy to find others who are going on a transformational health journey.


This is why I’ve put so much effort into creating strong and supportive communities in Mind Gut Skin (MGS) Academy. Joining one of these communities can be a great way to find an accountability buddy. You can connect with others who are at various stages along their own health journeys. You can choose to work through the course material together, or you can form an accountability partnership based around the specific area you’d most like to work on.


I also offer health coaching, so if you like the idea of being supported and held accountable by a health coach, please feel free to get in touch using the form at the bottom of the page. We can have a consultation to see if we’re a fit.


I want to see you succeed along your transformational health journey. Having an accountability partner hugely boosts your chances of success – plus it’s fun. Enjoy connecting with your own accountability buddy!


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