Accountability ...

When it comes down to being more productive there are a few things that can really help. Things like ‘focus’ help a lot. Being motivated, helps a lot. But another, very simple idea is to make ourselves ‘accountable’. 

For example: tell someone, or everyone, that you are going to get something done … this makes it much more difficult for us to simply ‘opt out’ when the ‘feeling’ passes.

If you want to hit a ‘weight goal’ for instance - make a post on facebook, letting everyone know your intended ‘target weight’ and the date you want to hit that goal … with the promise to follow-through with a post on your progress on that exact date.

Making ourselves accountable, connects our ‘goal’ to our ‘integrity’. Naturally, most of us would prefer that people think of us as someone who keeps their word - and so the internal motivation/pressure to see the challenge through, is much more real and replete with consequence. And unuttered goal is not much more than a pipe-dream.

Note: This only really works if ‘integrity’ is an integral part of your value system. If you say you’re gonna do it … do it!