5 ways to hold yourself accountable to your good habits

To start doing something is easy, but to stay consistent? Not so. It’s the trickier part.

The first week is always no sweat for everyone. Whether it’s going to the gym three times a week, eating healthy prep meals, or writing daily – our excitement and willpower are still high. Comes the second week, then the third week, and the fourth week, that’s when it starts to get very tough.

Most of the time, new year’s resolution means almost nothing by February.

I was sick last week for few days. Since that, I feel that it’s hard for me to publish daily in the morning like how I successfully did the first two weeks. I missed writing for a couple of days but I’m glad to be back on track now.

The first step to stay consistent is to feel that you’re accountable for the things you want to achieve. In this post, I will share tips to hold yourself accountable in achieving your good habits.

1. Write them down everywhere

By that, I mean e-ve-ry-where that your eyes can see.

I use my planner to write the habits that I want to establish as my routine. I also write them on this blog and across social media. Whenever I see them, I get reminded.

2. Tell your family and friends

Let your closest people know about the journey you’re embarking. It becomes a promise to them, and more importantly to yourself. If you share it on social media, even better. It results to more people knowing about the battle you’re fighting.

I used to be shy about sharing my goals openly. I guess it’s normal because we’re not sure whether we can execute them well or not. Just like my daily 100 words, there’s a chance that I might fail but guess what? Even if I fail, I’m going to own it and try to do better.

By telling people, I know that someone is waiting for my daily post. Perhaps it’s not as important to them as it is to me, but I still don’t want to disappoint my readers.

3. Track and monitor

By tracking and monitoring, you are able to know your performance and visualize your consistency marked in numbers.

Whenever I successfully post an article, I’ll tick the calendar in my bullet journal. My consistent tick in the past inspires me to continuously ticking and ticking. It feels like a game and gets me motivated.

There are also many tools and apps to help you with this, you can just Google and download them on you computer or phone.

4. Celebrate every progress

Appreciate every day that you manage to execute your plan. Remember, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 1 year ago and last month, this habit is never executable. It’s okay if it’s not perfect. It’s okay if the result is not as how you’ve expected. The consistent ‘doing’ is the more important thing here.

Don’t compare yourself with other people because comparing is a thief to your progress and consistency. This is your journey!

5. Keep it small but consistent

When I set up this habit last month, my target is to write 100 words daily but I always end up with 300-500 words. One of my posts almost reaches 2000 words. Even though I am capable to write more, the target remains small and I won’t change it for at least 6 months until the habit feels automatic to me.

Like this ‘quick’ post, it was hard for me to start at first but I thought, it’s OK I’ll just do 100s to get it done. It’s already 570 words up to this point. See, I’ve passed today, yeay! Signing off.