Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

Featured Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

Daily writing prompt

How do you plan your goals?

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I tend to start by visualizing my fantasy self. I have talked before about how unhelpful the fantasy self can be, but I try to reframe it so that I am focusing on what values I am wanting to improve. Then I try to identify steps I can take to move towards these goals. This is the part where I try to incorporate the principles of SMART goals in that I try to identify specific measurable steps. What I’ve learned is it’s important for me is to make my goals based on effort instead of results. As a Former Gifted Kid (TM) a lot of the things I tried in my early years came really easily, so the process of putting in effort is something I struggle with. Delaying reward until results often leads to me giving up at the first inconvenience.

Especially for a first attempt I find that setting myself a time goal is most effective. I will use my Google Calendar to carve out time for my goals. For accountability I will tell a friend about my goal and check back in with them about my progress. I am very grateful that my friends also understand and appreciate the importance of first attempts and of progress over perfection.

I understand this may not be helpful for you, but it is what works for me. The take away I hope comes across is that success depends on integration of evidence based practices. So yes you can get all the advice from the internet or from experts, but if it can’t be integrated into your habits, it won’t work for your life.