Years ago, wanting to lose a bit of weight, I began attending Weight Watcher meetings which included both inspiring lessons on food preparation and the dreaded Weigh In!!  I would watch women take off almost every item of clothing before standing on the scale; wanting so much to see that the numbers had gone down! Through that program I lost almost 50 lbs.  What I learned through this process was how powerful it was to have weekly accountability for the food choices I had made~ that weekly scale was a powerful point of accountability and it enabled me to be successful.  I will be honest, If there hadn’t been a weigh-in each week with one of the Weight Watcher leaders I probably wouldn’t have lost as much weight as I did.  Accountability can be a very powerful tool in our lives!

There are many areas in our lives where we would all do better with supportive accountability. Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution or a fresh committment to change an area of your life or behaviour only to find that the depth of your committment gradually became less and less; possible even abandoning the challenge all together!  What might those situations have looked like with a trusted accountability partner?  I imagine, for all of us, we would have experienced significantly more successes.

So how might we FIND an Accountability Partner?

1.  Determine what you need.  What are the things you need help to accomplish?  What goals have laid dormant for way too long?   What things tend to entangle you? Poor finances, lust, overeating, overworking, etc.?

2.  Select a trustworthy, emotionally mature individual who has enough courage to tell you the truth and ask the tough questions.  Choose someone whose life you respect and steer away from choosing someone who struggles with your same challenges.

3.  Meet on a regular basis setting measurable goals (weekly or bi-weekly tend to be the most fruitful times).  Be forthcoming and honest making sure the time spent together is valuable for you both.  Be sure to celebrate victories together as you meet goals and gain fresh victory in key challenges.

Maybe it’s time? 🙂