“Accountability Connects The Knowing To The Doing.”
A lot of people will say, knowledge is power.
I disagree.
Knowledge is power, if it is followed up with massive action.
Accountability helps ensure you take the action necessary to achieve your goals.
Simply put, accountability connects the knowing to the doing.
To show you that I truly believe in accountability, here are four ways that accountability has changed my life:
My first men’s physique show.
I was a week away from the show, and I was going to quit.
Like most people, in the past I’ve dealt with body image issues and insecurity.
When you step on a stage, under those bright lights, you expose yourself to judgement and are meticulously picked apart on your physique based on what the judges think.
Hiring and working with my first coach Paul Revelia helped me stick to this process. Without his accountability, I would of quit and not stepped on that stage. Which ended up being one of the best decisions of my life.
Overcoming that insecurity helped me in so many areas of life, beyond fitness.
College.
I almost didn’t become an RD.
I was doing my food service rotation my first year in dietetics and found myself washing dishes, working with a VERY negative preceptor, and doing work that was NOT inspiring to me.
I thought to myself: “I’m a personal trainer and want to work in fitness, why the hell am I PAYING to be here with student loan money, just to wash dishes!?”
I remember coming home one night, exhausted, frustrated, and ready to quit.
However, my girlfriend at the time Andrea (now my wife) offered a different perspective.
She told me, being an RD would help me differentiate myself in the nutrition and fitness industry.
Also, she said she would support me either way, but I would be disappointed if I l gave up now.
That accountability and encouragement was enough for me to suck it up and make it through that dreaded food service rotation.
Writing.
I would MUCH rather record a video instead of writing a caption or blog post.
Maybe it’s the Italian in me, but I love to talk.
Getting my thoughts out on video is easier than sitting and writing.
I used to rationalize and tell myself that writing was dead, and nobody read long captions or blog post anymore.
I was wrong and my impact and business was suffering from it.
So, I invested in working with a writing coach John Romaniello and that’s when everything changed.
I realized I wasn’t writing because I didn’t feel confident in my skills as a communicator through the written word.
Working with Roman not only enhanced my ability to write well, but it’s the accountability of having him review, critique, and enhance my work that propels me to continue to write.
Posting on social media.
Now, I know this may seem like an odd one because I tend to be quite active on social media.
Truth is, I’m an introverted extrovert and I not too long ago I HATED social media.
Sharing my life, documenting what I was doing, and telling my story were all foreign subjects to me. I knew how important it was, so I forced myself to start doing it.
I realized I was still holding back and not creating as much impact as I wanted to on social media.
I was holding back what I was sharing.
I was wearing a mask, so to speak.
So, I invested in working with the expert Amanda Bucci for a strategy, but also for MASSIVE accountability on my social media.
She doesn’t let me off the hook with not sharing my story, and that’s exactly what I needed.
So, what does this all mean for you?
Accountability can help enhance ANY area of your life, but especially with your fitness or business goals.
I know you might be thinking you don’t need accountability because you can “do this on your own.”
That may be true.
But.
Are you progressing as fast as you could be if you had accountability? Or are you delaying doing the HARD things that would propel you into growth?
Listen, there comes a point where you realize, if I was going to do it myself, I would have already done it by now.
All growth begins with truth.
Get BRUTALLY honest with yourself and assess your goals and your progress the last 90 days. Have you been making the progress you had hoped for? If not, it’s time to incorporate some accountability to help you progress faster.
Let me know what area in your life could accountability help you the most right now? Shoot me a reply to tonystephandietitian@gmail.com
