The Accountability of Blogging
I’ve heard about plenty of studies claiming that writing down and then tracking progress plays a key role in successfully achieving goals. The key point in this reasoning is the accountability of a place to look back over goals and progress. This always made me wonder if I didn’t set goals well enough. I don’t have tables and charts with my goals saved on my hard-drive. I don’t have an inspiration board hanging on my refrigerator. I don’t carry around my monthly goals on a 3x5 index card in my purse. The closest I get to written goals is my daily to-do list – which I lately don’t even have the time to write that.
Then, when I thought about it, I realized I do in fact have a place of written documentation – this blog. This blog helps hold me accountable in a variety of ways and I like that. I have fitness goals I shared on the blog. Even though I certainly feel no pressure from anyone out there reading, the fact I am working to achieve them in front of plenty of others never leaves the back of my mind. It undoubtedly will help motivate me at times to get in that workout or try that new recipe because I want to share it here.
The community of support also inspires me to believe in myself and push towards every goal I put out there. Including some scary ones I possibly consider working towards. I haven’t told you yet that I have my eye on a longer race (a 1/2) I would love to do at the end of the year if I end up liking running as much as I started to before getting pregnant. See…blog accountability. I’ve been trying to keep that a secret because its not certain. Then, it feels so good just to put that possibility even out there in public. It holds me accountable to not fearing new goals and dreams, even if those new goals could change.
Blogging also holds me accountable to myself. Every day I write a post I must reflect on myself, my day, my life. How’s that for accountability? I can never forget the blessings of my life when I showcase it post by post for all of you. When I have struggles, posting about them helps me to learn and grow from them much differently than silently allowing it all to swirl around in my head. I have a reputation I like to keep by not giving up on my beliefs and what I present here – like consistent honesty and realness in ALL things.
Sure, I can (and will) always do what works best for me and adapt goals accordingly as I go along. However, simply having the blog as a sounding board of my thoughts and reflections helps to always keep things in perspective. It always puts things into the light for me to clearly see. It always holds me accountable. To my goals? Certainly. But mostly? Mostly to myself.
Question of the Day – Do you feel your blog (if you have one) helps hold you accountable in some way? What about reading blogs?
