Commit to Take Action Now With An Accountability Group

It is magnificent to make a commitment to take action now with the help of an accountability group. There are certain times on the calendar when people turn to goal setting, goal planning and resolving to do better. The times are predictable:

• The beginning of a new year
• The beginning of each new season
• The start of each new quarter of the calendar
• The midway point of the year

 At these times, books on self-help, goal setting and planning for the future fly off the shelves at bookstores and orders for them are clicked all over the internet. People get bitten by a bug to take action, to get things done. Everyone starts deciding they need to take action now in order to succeed at whatever it is they are trying to accomplish. For many people, the difference between success and once again failing to complete the mission is having the support of an accountability group.

An accountability group is a group of people who join together in order to support one another in accomplishing goals. Even people who have never been in an accountability group have heard of successful one. Some popular accountability groups include Weight Watchers and  Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). One of the reasons people tend to stick to their plans in Weight Watchers and AA is that the members work together to accomplish their goals. These groups provide support, feedback options and don't take excuses for failure to stay on track. The members of these groups meet on a regular, predetermined basis to share stories, brag about successes, commiserate about failures and to promise to continue on the journey together. It is an old formula, but it is a formula that works. An interesting thing about accountability groups is that for the most part, they are single purpose groups. The people in Weight Watchers do not help you stop drinking. The people in AA do not share weight loss secrets and low-fat high taste recipes.

The first step in creating an accountability group that will work for you is to decide what goal you want to accomplish. Do you want to start a business, become a better wife and mother, move up the corporate ladder? It doesn't matter what you want to do, just decide what you want to do before starting or joining an accountability group. Once you have decided what it is you want to do, it is time to form a group of like-minded people to help you. In my life, I have a few different accountability groups. The first group is the smallest it is just my husband and I working together to make a better home for our children and ourselves. The second group is a  general purpose group formed by two women, Rachee Fagg of Say It Rah-shay and Pam Margolis of The Unconventional Librarian and I on the spot at the PowerUp Weekend conference last year. The third group is a group with two blogger friends Arelis Cintron of My Pocketful of Thoughts and Brandi Jeter of Mama Knows it All to help me better my blog and the blog we started together, Pushing Lovely to help support women writers. Each group is important to help me succeed in different areas of life. I depend upon each to help me. At the same time, each group has people in it who are depending upon me to survive and accomplish my goals. When you become part of an accountability group, your participation is important and you must work to help the other members of your group to succeed. In order to do that, please pay attention to the following guidelines:

• Attend group meetings
• Support the members of your group
• Offer helpful suggestions to members
• Be receptive to criticism
• Take the group and your responsibilities seriously

It is important to keep in mind that accountability groups are like most things in life you get out what you put in. This means you must be a good member of the group in order to have others respect you, help you and want to have you involved in the group. If you want the members to give you good suggestions and to help you reach your goals. You must be a good member, you must offer good help to the other members. You must treat the accountability group as if your success depends on the success of the group, because believe me, it does.

Photo Credit: Janeane Davis, Commit to Take Action Now

When you form an accountability group it can be informal like the group my husband and I make up. We decided that we must work together to make our home what we want it to be or our children who outnumber us would run wild and rampant. Your group could be formal, have meeting dates and a format for reporting progress like my group with Rachee and Pam. We meet once a week, virtually and discuss our big picture, how we did on the big picture over the course of he last week and plans for the upcoming week. Your group could be a combination of both, like my group with Arelis and Brandi. We meet about every other week to formally go over business matters and we talk almost everyday to push each other along with personal and business areas.  No matter what combination you choose, it is important that you make a plan, join a group and get moving on the road to success. In conclusion, it is magnificent to take action now and get things done with the help of an accountability circle. So, the question for you this magnificent day is, do you have an accountability group helping you achieve your goals?