The g(old) secret of growing fast (that works in every niche)

I have been able to learn countless skills like — Swimming, Driving, Playing Piano, Guitar, Singing, Developing ROMs for Android (or mixing them up), reading well, meditating, different types of workout, developing CRO focused sites, running ads that drive the ROI, copy writing, direct response advertising, meeting with people who are far beyond my reach (who are now great friends), speed learning, and hundreds of other skills (or hobbies).

What is that secret? It is having an accountability partner, which is also called accountability buddy, or success partners, or buddy system.

This system works 100% of the times and personally tested by myself during multiple points of time over a span of decade. It is formidably-strong and I can vouch for it.

What is an accountability partner?

When two people who hold each other accountable for pushing each other to achieve common goals. It can be related to anything — fitness, reading, cooking, some common interest, developing some new habit, work, business goals, literally anything. It needs to be something super specific.

What do accountability partners do? (and how it feels?)

1. Daily rush of self-learning about the topic, sharing with each other and IMPLEMENTING on the same day (anyhow).
2. Holding each other accountable and not letting the momentum stop.
3. Achieving some small but achievable targets on a regular basis to build confidence (done with the help of above points)
4. Keeping a friendly competition to feel the speed.
5. Handholding and guiding each other whenever you are stuck.
6. Embracing the change. Whenever we try to change something, there is a lot of opposition that comes with the change.

You might have heard “Change is hard at first, Messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” This is exactly what I’ve felt every single time and you will too.

It might be a bit easier if you have an habit of improving otherwise it might be a bit difficult.

How to make sure it is worth your while? (The process and system)

The framework of accountability partner. Here are the requirements you need to follow to make it work every single time.

1. Honesty – Becoming accountability partners require sheer honesty, no matter what. Otherwise there is no point in being accountability partners if you can’t be honest, you would be simply lying to yourself.
2. Feedback – Your accountability partner can look at you and give a third person point of view that can be skipped while self evaluation.
3. Sticking – Sticking means making sure you follow it for at least 14 to 21 days to understand if someone is the right fit for you or not and you can cope up with the responsibilities of an accountability partner. The key is giving it ample time and consistent implementation to the system.
4. Habit-Time Rule – One habit = One accountability partner for at least 90 days or until that sinks in and becomes natural to you.
5. Risk & Reward System – Risk simply punishing yourself on a daily basis when things don’t go as planned, and Reward means celebrating on a weekly basis if things go as planned. I go more into detail over here.

At the end of the day, this system works if you work.

What type of people can leverage it?

Let’s talk about them one by one, I will try to cover most common ones.

1. Teammates or Employees – This system can also be used inside companies where two people of same department or team can learn, implement, give feedback on a regular basis and grow within the company with some friendly competition.
2. Co-founders – Same field co-founders? Yes.
   
   Different field co-founders? Short answer here is no. You need someone who can understand your day and suggest ways to improve it. If your co-founder is in different role, you might end up sharing your day that might not move the needle in your growth.
   
   Still want to do it if you both are in different field? Learn each other’s skill first (by doing it) and then make it possible to be accountability partners in the thing you want to be. It is the hard way, but I don’t want to limit your potential by saying it’s hard.
   
   You can also follow the way mentioned in the next point.
3. Founders – Founders can connect with founders of other companies that might or might not be competitors, key over here is understanding that everyone’s niche is a big enough ocean and any ONE company can’t capture it all.
4. Friends – Absolutely, I have done this multiple times myself. Just follow the rules and make sure there is no slacking off.
5. Classmates? Course mates? – Make friends, start with someone whom you bond the most.
6. Parents as Accountability Partners? – This is a tricky one, as parents good for us but might not be able to understand the entire thing (in most scenarios). Ideally, it should be someone who will do follow the same accountability task daily as then and only then your partner would be able to understand you and help in the direction of speed improvement.

This is not restricted to above scenarios. If you and your partner religiously follow the process and system behind it, it is going to work in every single scenario. Some scenarios might require outside help where a well-experienced coach can come in the picture to help them give the right direction.

Universal Template for Accountability Partner

Coming soon for Google Sheets & Notion (Bookmark this page, templates would be out in a by 1st week of Aug 2020)

Where to find accountability partners?

If you can’t find it right now, I suggest surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals and find along the way. DO NOT wait for the accountability partner to get started, you won’t ever find it if you do it like this. Just get started and try to find along the way.

If you are serious about your growth, you can join my group that revolves around this topic and a few others. Who knows, you might find your accountability partner from here. Join Kartik’s Group.

Do you stop being accountability partners?

There is no simple answer to this. It all depends…

Someone can stop being an accountability partner if they have developed the daily habit where it becomes natural and no external push is needed.

Many times people prefer to let it run for years and decades, it is always nice to have people with similar interests by your side, pushing you and improving you on a daily basis.

Every individual is unique, depends on what you and your partner would prefer.

Accountability Partner is one of those secret weapons that can be your unfair advantage among your competitors.

Have you tried it? Did I miss anything? Let me know in comments section down below. (I will personally reply to all comments)

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