How to Stop Procrastinating: a simple Guide to Mastering Difficult Tasks and Breaking the Procrastination Habit

Practice #14: Create Accountability for Your Tasks
You’ve probably heard about the law of inertia (also known as Newton’s
first law of motion). If you haven’t, the law states that “an object at rest
stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed

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and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”
In other words, if your natural tendency is to lounge around before
starting the day, then you’ll need an extra “push” to force you into action.
People often procrastinate because it’s easier to do nothing than it is to
push themselves to do a potentially unpleasant task.
That’s why one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about habit
development is to add accountability for every major goal.
It’s not enough to make a personal commitment. The big things in life
require a solid action plan and a support network to tap into whenever
you encounter an obstacle. This is true for your career trajectory and your
personal development. When you have someone to cheer on your
successes (or kick you in the butt when you’re slacking), you’re less likely
to give up.
There are a variety of ways to be accountable, like posting your progress
on social media accounts or telling the people in your life about your new
routine, but I have found that there are three strategies that get the best
results.
The first is to use
Beeminder
, which is a habit-building app on steroids.
Instead of relying on self-reporting to track your habits, Beeminder syncs
with a variety of apps (like
Gmail
,
Fitbit
, and
RescueTime
) to make sure
you follow through with your commitments. If you fail to achieve a target
goal, then Beeminder will charge you money. Sounds hard-core, right?
In my opinion, the best use of Beeminder is to use the location app on
your cell phone when you’re at the gym and then create a “commitment
contract” with Beeminder where you promise to go to this location for a
specific amount of time each week. If you don’t follow through, you’ll
have to pay money to Beeminder.
The second option is to use
Coach.me
, which is another great app for
maintaining and sticking to new habits. It’s like having a coach in your
pocket, for better and for worse. You’ll be held accountable for your task
by adding it as a habit and checking in every single day when it’s been
completed. Trust me—the simple act of knowing that you have to update
people on your progress is motivation enough to stick to a habit-stacking

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routine.
Finally, you can work with an accountability partner with whom you
share your breakthroughs, challenges, and future plans. This is a great
way to get a kick in the butt whenever you feel a wane in motivation. It’s
also valuable to have someone you can confide in whenever you have a
challenge that requires a second opinion.
If you’re interested in finding prospective accountability partners, be sure
to check out my Facebook group,
HabitsGroup.com
, which has over
2,000 members. Every month, we create a thread where members can
connect with one another and become accountability partners.

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