November 5th, 2016 Posted in Business, Life Hacks

‘Accountability buddy’ trial for productivity

My brother and I have recently tried an ‘accountability buddy’ system to help us both be more productive.

We have been having a weekly 30 minute call to see how we are progressing with tasks that we set ourselves for the following week and also self care like getting enough sleep, eating and exercising.

Results

Within a couple of weeks I was seeing massive boost to my productivity. I have various websites (personal and business) that need regularly updating and redesigning. These projects tend to slip as I’m working on client sites and my own projects get put on the back burner. Having the accountability call got me working through my own projects again. I rebuilt two sites, launched a new brand and migrated the FCS Websites site to WordPress within a few weeks – these projects had been on my list for months!

To hit my deadlines, I also let go of some perfectionist tendencies that were stopping me ‘finishing’ things. Websites are never ‘finished’ so I launched when they were 80% there and fixed anything else after launch.

My brother was having a busy period of event management and travelling, but the regular check-ins helped him look after himself and avoid burning out while working hard.

A supportive approach

We chose our own tasks and supported each other if they didn’t get done, enquiring what got in the way and how this can be improved rather than being negative about it.

It was also a great way to stay in touch and support each other with non-work things. We’re both pretty busy and often went months without speaking so it was a great way of checking in with each other.

Summary

Trying an accountability buddy system with a supportive approach was massively helpful in both getting things done and looking after ourselves at the same time.