How To Create Personal Accountability & Stop Breaking Promises

“I'll send that email later,” you tell yourself as you hit “PLAY” on another episode of Orange Is the New Black.

“I'll just start my diet tomorrow,” you say as you pop another Oreo into your mouth.

“I'm going to go to the gym… eventually,” you promise, as you realize it's been yet another month since you worked out.

If you had a friend who constantly broke promises to you, you'd stop believing that friend after a while, right?

So if you constantly break the promises you make to yourself, it's safe to say you'll stop believing in your own promises eventually.

Everyone wants to know the secret to getting things done. Here's the reality – it's less about looking for motivation, and more about personal accountability.

Imagine if you never, ever, ever broke a promise you made with yourself. You said you were going to clean your room every Friday? You get it done every single week, on time, without fail. You never, ever, ever miss a week. You'll cancel ALL your plans if you have to, but you make it happen every single Friday.

For most people, it goes a little more like this. You say you'll clean your room every Friday. You do it for a week. The next week, you forget, but you do it Saturday. Then you miss two weeks, start again, fall off again, start again… you get the idea.

This constant inability to keep our own promises clouds the way we view ourselves. We start to believe we're flaky, lazy, and easily distracted – because that's how we're behaving when it comes to unimportant tasks. If we can't even trust ourselves to complete menial tasks, how can we trust ourselves with large projects and life goals?

The more you're able to keep the promises you make with yourself, no matter how tiny, the more you'll actually BELIEVE yourself when you say you'll do something.

Said you were going to the gym? You trust yourself enough to know that you're going to make it happen, no matter what excuses you COULD make.

Said you were spending an hour a day writing? You know you'll do it, even when you're not in the mood.

When you stop flaking on yourself, your ability to execute tasks (and in turn, your productivity) will skyrocket.

We all have the same excuses – it's whether or not we allow those excuses to derail us that actually matters. Creating and maintaining personal accountability is a major factor in how often you properly execute necessary tasks.

Start small.

Make one promise to yourself today that will better your life, whether it's hitting 10k steps a day, drinking more water, clearing out your inbox every night before you go to bed, or meditating for 10 minutes every morning. Commit to executing that promise – no excuses – for 30 days. Move WHATEVER you have to and make it happen… then add another promise, and another one. Eventually, you'll start to really believe you can achieve bigger things you've been dreaming about.

So stop breaking the promises you make to yourself and start committing!