Officially Accountable

Yesterday, I talked about setting SMART goals. Toward the end of that post I mentioned that Becca and I set some goals together. They were goals we both had been thinking, just hadn't spoken out loud. I don't know about her, but for me there was a reason for not sharing those goals "out loud". I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to them!

I am on the road a LOT! It may be short trips here or there. It may be a little longer. Sometimes for me, it is the crazy schedule of picking up one child, dropping her off and then doing the same thing with the next girl. Take a slight break, run an errand or two, and then I get to do it all over again!

I don't necessarily choose to keep a schedule like that, but when you work with school and work schedules, it doesn't always work out the way that would be best. And…when schedules are like that, it doesn't always leave much time to prepare decent meals. It requires thinking and planning ahead - something I have been working on improving...

So, the goal I have just committed to? I still hate to say it out loud - it almost scares me because I'm not sure I can do it. I have committed to not eating out at fast food restaurants unless it is absolutely necessary. Yes, it does sound ridiculous, but being in the state of mind we have been in, it is just far too easy to make an excuse to pick up that dollar burger or taco. It satisfies our need for food and saves us some time. The flip side is that it is not at all good for us. We have decided that we want to make our health more of a priority. The second goal is no soda. That one should be easy.

There. I shared it. I am now accountable to the world! I don't really think it'll be all that hard…but it will present a challenge from time to time. Of that, I am sure.

The whole point of this was to briefly mention accountability. No matter what type of goal you have, it will always be more successful if you choose to have someone keep you accountable. Here are a couple questions you could ask in an accountability session with a friend:

-Have you met your goal this week/month?

-If so, great! How did you do it? Was it too easy? Or can we strengthen the goal?

-If not, what held you back? How can I help you to improve? Or what can you do to work on success for next week/month?

-What was most challenging for you? How did you deal with that challenge?

And the most important question of all comes at the very end…

"Have you been completely honest?".