Welcome to Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about. Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post. Today’s word is accountable….. I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.
Accountable – required to explain actions or decisions to someone;
required to be responsible for something
~ Merriam-Webster
How appropriate that today’s word is accountable on the week that I need to remind everyone of the rules to our Wednesday Word linkup. All of my regulars are great, but last week I had someone new link up to our word, renewal. There was no mention of joining the linkup, no Wednesday Word button on their post, and no link back to my blog; so I deleted their thumbnail link on InLinkz. I hated doing it, but rules are rules, and they needed to be held accountable. I’d love to have them join us again, but only if they follow the same rules as everyone else.
Now that I’ve take care of that little bit of house keeping, let’s talk about how we can hold ourselves more accountable…
The last couple of weeks we’ve been talking endlessly about setting goals. Goal setting is great, but without follow-up, it doesn’t mean much, and that’s where being accountable comes into play. If you’re falling short on your goals, it’s time to make adjustments.
One of the first things clients say to me when they hire me is that they need someone to help them meet their goals, and someone to hold them accountable in the process. Accountability is easy for some, and not so easy for others. If you fall into the category of those who need a little help, here are my tips.
Six ways to help hold yourself accountable when working toward your fitness goals:
- Find a running or workout partner
- Hire a personal trainer
- Make your goals public
- Schedule your workouts on your calendar
- Set an end date
- Regularly reevaluate goals and create a new plan of attack if necessary
Here’s to a successful year of setting exciting goals, working hard to achieve them, and holding yourself accountable in the process! Good luck and have fun!
For the story behind the picture of my client and me pictured at the top of the page, click here.
Do you find it easy or difficult to hold yourself accountable?
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Next Wednesday’s Word: Quality
Oh no they didn’t!!
Great tips!
I find it hard to hold myself accountable and that is why I tell so many people( friends, family, blog posts, etc. ) what I am doing so they can help hold me accountable.
Oh yes they did! LOL
That’s a great point about making it public on the blog. I’ve trained harder and run stronger since declaring a couple of years ago that I wanted to start running some age-adjusted PR’s. Once I put it out there, I felt like I had to make it happen. 😀
It’s funny, when it comes to a career, I wasn’t at all driven. I’m quite happy not working. For my hobbies? Yes, I tend to be pretty self motivated & driven.
Being accountable to a workout buddy always helps. Just like running with a buddy always helps!
Although today, as that wind really howls out there, I am sooooooo glad I can huddle in my nice, warm home & get on my treadmill.
Judy @ Chocolaterunsjudy recently posted…Accountable
Yay for having a treadmill when you need it! Having my running buddies is most important for me for my early morning runs in the winter. It would be very hard to get out of my warm bed and face the bitter cold alone!
I am pretty good at holding myself accountable for workouts – and having a coach is the extra motivation I need. What I’m not as good at is holding myself accountable for nutrition goals. I think if I had to share my food diary on a regular frequency with someone I would be better at it…but there’s only so many funds and time to go around. Gotta keep figuring out how to get better at this.
Kelli recently posted…Should you invest in fenders for your bicycle?
I’m with Kelli – very accountable on my exercise but very lenient on my eating! Having a group you share daily workouts/nutrition goals with can help too. As for link-ups, sometimes our Coffee Date gets a few that don’t fit. I used to feel bad, but I feel worse for other coffee date participants who may waste their time on an out-of-synch post, so I mercilessly delete!
Coco recently posted…The New USDA Dietary Guidelines
That seems to be a common theme – accountable with workouts, not so accountable with our eating habits. That probably comes from us all loving to workout and run. 🙂
I felt the same way about the cheater who linked up. I felt badly for any of our regular participants who invested time reading the article which was simply linked to us to get page views.
I’m definitely the same way – very accountable with my workouts, but not as good with food. My dad had better self control when it came to food than anyone I’ve ever met. If it wasn’t good for him, he wouldn’t eat it. I wish I’d gotten that gene…
I’m really good at keeping myself accountable. It comes with the territory of being type A++!!!
Boo to the link dropper. Between that and the spam, blogging has been a little funky lately!
Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home recently posted…The whiner’s guide to staying accountable in the winter
I could use a little more type A in me when I get the afternoon munchies! 😀
I have to delete links on my meatless Monday sometimes too. I always feel bad but really it’s not that hard to follow the rules! All this social media posting actually helps me to stay accountable! Running with MRTT has been the biggest constant for me bc everyone knows when I am not there!!
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…Fast Girl-Fast Read
Good point about MRTT holding you accountable. So does my blog! 🙂
I usually do not have a problem holding myself accountable – for some things. Running and working out? No problem. Eating? That’s a whole different story!
Yep, that seems to be an ongoing theme – working out, no problem; but eating…
I’m usually pretty good at holding myself accountable but now that my marathon is over i’m taking some time off and am extremely excited about it!!!!!
You deserve taking some time off to recover after your marathon! Congrats!
I’m great with personal accountability. I’m harder on myself than any other person could be. Wow link up deletion, that is brutal…I’m never linking up for fear of the same action lol
Running schlub recently posted…Need Some TLC
HaHa, play by the rules and you’re good! In fact, we’d love to have you join us on Wednesday Word. It would be great to get a guy’s perspective! Next week’s word is quality. Please, pretty please! 😉
Hahaha, I’m VERY familiar with the high and lows of hosting a linkup when folks don’t play by the rules. I find it SO incredibly irritating but I try very hard to give some grace in that area despite how it makes my blood boil. LOL. I honestly think being a blogger has helped my running SO much!
courtney @ eat pray run dc recently posted…How I’ve Become a Faster Runner
Oh my goodness, with the amount of traffic you get on Friday Five, you must have lots of people ignoring the rules.
I have to agree that blogging has improved my running as well. When I put it out there that I wanted to set some new age-adjusted PR’s I worked my butt off to make it happen.
Scheduling in my workouts in my planner has helped me so much and makes those 4 am wake ups a bit more tolerable! Thanks as always for a great link up!
Lauren recently posted…3 Tips for Time Crunched Runners
My 4:30 AM wake-up calls twice a week kill me, you go girl!
I am very accountable on many/most things. Food is not one of those. That’s why I’ve made that goal public and am forcing myself to keep sharing it until my goal is reached Ugh.
Marcia recently posted…Weightloss Week 1: Fail to Plan
Lack of accountability in the food department seems to be a reoccurring theme that many of us are lamenting about. Good for you for doing what it takes to reach your goal.
I think I am tougher on myself than anyone else! I do like sharing my goals on the blog, it is out there I need to put my money where my mouth is! I think it has to be rewarding to be a trainer and get to be part of that process 🙂
Mary Beth Jackson recently posted…Accountable? Says who?
Yes, being a trainer is a very rewarding job. It feels so good to see a client meet his/her goals through their hard work and with a little guidance from me.
I usually do not have an issue with accountability as long as I have a plan for my goal. If it’s just some obtuse goal with no plan then accountability becomes a much larger issue. For me, making the decision is often the hardest part. But once I make up my mind, I almost always follow through.
Meagan recently posted…Staying Accountable
I’m very much like you in that respect. When I first started running marathons, a friend told me that he had trained for the MCM up until about a month before the race (including running at least one twenty-miler), and then he decided not to run it. I couldn’t comprehend how anyone could put that much work into something and then just walk away.
Lately if it hadn’t been for my Believe journal, it would have been impossible to keep myself accountable. Blogging always helps me and keeping my workouts public so I’m trying to move back toward that in the new year!
I definitely agree that blogging keeps us accountable! A couple of my friends LOVE their Believe journals.
I’m especially a fan of scheduling workouts on a calendar. I do this every week I can, and I always feel more motivated to complete my workouts knowing that they’re right there in writing, and I’ll have to cross them out if I don’t do them.
Lisa @ Lisa the Vegetarian recently posted…Workout Week in Review: 1/11/16 – 1/17/16
I agree completely! There’s nothing like checking that workout off the “to do” list!