No one ever succeeds on their own, with any great success there would have been countless people who made it possible. Just as with any great athlete they would have a coach and sometimes a support staff that all help to make them the complete athlete.

So the main thing we need to realize that if all the people who achieved great success had people around them that helped to get them their then why not design a similar support network ourselves.

One of the easiest way to get a support cheer squad working for you is to get an accountability partner. Ideally you would want to find someone who is positive by nature, supportive and encouraging. You want to both inspire and hold each other accountable to each others goals.

One of the great benefits of having an accountability partner is that the two of you can work on keeping each other on track with your goals. It is easy when left to our own devices to slack off and take detours. By having someone essentially watching over our backs we tend to become more productive, after all we may let ourselves down because it affects no one else other than ourselves, but when you have an accountability partner you now feel as though you are letting down someone else.

When you have found your accountability partner and you both feel comfortable working together then the first step is to decide on what each of you want out of the partnership. Decide on how often you are going to check in on each other, are you going to meet up to give each other updates and how you want them to keep you on track. Let them know your weaknesses and what often happens that takes you off track so that they can recognize when you are falling off track and be stern enough to get you motivated again.

The next step is then to know where each other are going. After all how can you keep each other accountable if you don’t know where they are going. Start by writing out your goals and what you want your life to look like in 3 and 5 years time. A great idea is to separate your life into the major areas of your life like Health, Career, Finance, Personal Growth, Spiritual, Community, Recreation and Relationships. Write goals for each area.

Once you have an understanding of each other’s goal you can start by telling your accountability partner what you want to achieve for the week and away you go. At the end of the week or however often you want to report to each other you can give an update on how your week went, what were the major breakthroughs and obstacles you encountered and decide on your targets for the next week.

The idea is by sharing your experiences good and bad you are able to discuss and brainstorm together how to tackle your week better. There is power in being able to have someone available to you as a sounding board.