Accountability comes in many forms. It is different for everyone at various times in their life. The strongest form is when others rely on you to show up. The “others” being established relationships. The stronger the relationship the easier it is to show up when you don’t want to be there because you know your friends will lose their accountability, motivation and eventually progress if you are not there to support them. And we as people often care more about the success of others over our own. For most they feel successful when they can share in the accomplishment of others. This is at the heart of group training and the real reason why it works.
At the gym we know it is important for new members to establish friendships. Find training partners at the same hour of the day every day each week. Veteran members to welcome newbies and take them under their wing advising them from their own experience. Take part in local team competitions. Attend social outings with the gym folk, etc.. surround yourself with people you care about and be part of their motivation and encouragement.
Only one person in that group needs to have a goal. When the rest of the group witness that one person attaining that goal it will inspire you or another in the group and that person will carry the torch. Rally around that individual and they will elevate the group, yourself included.
You don’t have to be the best to get better, but you can learn from what the best do.
We can borrow an analogy from the competitive cycling world, where course records are not broken by individuals but by a peloton. And, no a peloton is not an exercise bike with a workout video subscription. A peloton is a group of cyclists. The group rotates the leader. Or in this case the person most motivated to push as hard as possible. The others sit back and recover but keep up their speed as they ride the drag of the lead. Once the leader burns out, someone else steps up and pushes the pace as the leader backs off to recover.
In training or most life situations, you can’t constantly push at maximal effort or you’ll burn out. Which leads to a complete stop in progress. You need others to lean on that will bring the fire on days when you don’t have it. And that’s ok to not be the top dog every day! It will motivate you to step it up the next day or the day after. This is why all the best athletes train with others or attend various camps throughout the year. It’s hard and damn near impossible to always be on for long periods of time. You need to sit back and slow down sometimes and watch others get after it. This will allow you to stay in the environment you need to be successful, allowing you to form your thoughts and actions around doing what others are doing until you do it yourself.
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