Accountability, Reverse Bets, & Making Motivation Stick

When it comes to getting shit done, I consider myself to be pretty efficient.

With focus, and without distractions, I can bust out between 1,500 – 2,000 words an hour.

I never miss article deadlines.

I’m in and out of the gym in 45 minutes.

I’m the first one done eating, cause you know, I got stuff to do.

Ladies always come first.

All the important stuff.

But, I am also inherently lazy. Which means when I don’t have the external motivation to get something done, like writing an email sequence or optimizing my website, shit does not get done.

I don’t like the fact that I can be lazy sometimes. I know it’s probably cost me opportunities and money. But I’ve been this way for 28 years. Deep down, I probably will never not be lazy.

“But Jorden, you preach taking control of your life, and not blaming anything or anyone for not accomplishing what you want to accomplish!”

You’re right, I do. Thanks for paying attention.

Yes, saying I’m inherently lazy is a bit of a copout. But I also know that it’s in my nature; it’s my default setting. And because I know this, I know that I need to create systems to help build habits that will work to prevent my natural laziness setting to kick in.

Here’s how I’m doing that this year…

Accountability and Reverse Bets

My big theme for 2017 is creating accountability. If you want to accomplish anything, creating accountability is the absolute best way to do it. It’s by far the biggest benefit that helps my clients achieve results.

The first area I knew I needed to create accountability was in my own fitness. Having just finished a two-month bulk, I have to trim off some fat. So I hired my good friend and fellow Cheesehead, Eric Bach, to help.

Now, I know how to lose fat. I did lose 80 pounds after all. And I help clients do it everyday. Me hiring my own coach has nothing to do with knowledge (although I love learning from other coaches) and EVERYTHING to do with accountability.

See, we as humans are very forgiving of ourselves. In our own minds, we can justify anything.

“Eh, I’ve hit my macros the last five days, I’m not gonna count this weekend.” And then the weekend turns into a four-day binge, and it’s a week later before you get back on track again.

I’m as guilty of this as anybody, and too often my fat loss phases fall short of their goals because the only person I’m accountable to is me. And I’m very easy on myself.

No, when it comes to fat loss, we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves, but we can’t be too lenient either. We need to find a happy medium of consistency in order to reach our goals. And the best way I’ve found to do this when it comes to fitness is hiring a coach.

The second big way I’m creating accountability this year is by instituting a reverse bet.

A reverse bet is just like it sounds: instead of getting something for achieving a predetermined goal(s), you instead have to give something up – a sort of punishment – if you don’t accomplish those them.

I like the concepts of reverse bets better than regular bets and here’s why…

With a regular bet, you’re working to get something you don’t have. And while whatever it is may be nice to have, you’re life is not going to change if you don’t get it because you already don’t have it. So the pain of failing isn’t as great.

In a reverse bet however, you’re giving something up or being punished in some way, if you don’t accomplish your goals. This increases the pain of failure because you have to sacrifice something that’s a part of your life.

My reverse bet is all about growing my brand, my business, and myself. So, from January 1^st until April 1^st my goals are:

Minimum 1 new blog post each week
Minimum 1 newsletter each week
4 Facebook posts per week
3 Instagram posts per week
Minimum 30 minutes of reading per day

In addition, my boy Tanner Baze issued a challenge to the members of the RFS Mastermind group to write 822 words per day. This equates to 5,754 words per week for a total of 300,000+ for the year. Since this coincided with my 12-week reverse bet for myself, I added this goal to my list as well.

Once I had my goals figured out, I needed to figure out my punishment. In order to do this, I needed to be honest with myself about really motivated me.

After thinking about it for a while, I settled on that, if I didn’t hit my reverse bet goals, I’d have to give all the money I’ve contributed to my retirement account to the person I hate most in the world (I’m not going to call anyone out here, and frankly he’s already gotten more press in this article than he deserves, so we’ll leave it at that).

This punishment hits me where it hurts for a couple reasons. One, I’ve always had an interest in finance – I actually hold a securities license that allows me to sell a number of different investment options – and saving for my retirement so that is something that I value.

Two, and more importantly, that money represents my future. It represents my life after I’m done working, and my ability to do the things I want to do most. It represents my freedom. Therefore, if I can’t do those things I listed above each week to help grow my business, and keep contributing to my retirement, I really don’t deserve that money anyway.

So, you heard it here…if I don’t accomplish those six goals each week, I will give everything that I’ve contributed to my retirement account to the person I hate most in the world.

That previous paragraph is more accountability, btw.

Motivation

Whether it’s improving your fitness, growing your business, or bettering yourself, it’s important that you have a clear picture of your motivation; about WHY you’re doing those things.

I’ve always struggled with motivation, so this year I did something different. This year I created a vision board and filled it with all the dreams I’m working towards in 2017.

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On my board, I put pictures of the things I want, the places I want to go, and the people I am working for. I took the board and hung it someplace that I would be forced to look at it every day; where I could stand and stare at it, and envision achieving everything on it.

And I do. Every day, I stop and stare at my board for a couple of minutes to remind myself why I am doing what I’m doing.

My board and my reverse bet go hand-in-hand: The board represents everything I want. The reverse bet goals represent everything I feel I need to do to bring myself closer to getting those things I want. And my reverse bet punishment represents what will be taken away from me if I can’t accomplish those goals.

That’s my process for 2017. It’s new. It’s different. And I believe it’s going to take me further than ever before.

Your 2017

Do you need to make a reverse bet with yourself, or create a vision board to reach your goals this year? No, of course not.

But you need to create accountability. The reverse bet – and this article – are ways for me to create accountability for myself in my business. Hiring a coach is my way of creating accountability for myself in my fitness.

Accountability comes in many different forms. I’ve shared a few with you here today, but there are many others. The most important thing is that you find something or someone that is going to hold you responsible for your actions.

And to be honest, the consequences should scare you a bit. Fear is a powerful motivator. You think the thought of losing my retirement money scares me? Damn straight. That’s why I’m going to do what I need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen. And in the process, I’ll bring myself closer to being able to cross off everything on my vision board in 2017.

So, if you want something actionable from this article, here it is…

If you haven’t already, figure out 1-3 things you want to make happen this year.

I don’t care what it is, – these are your dreams, I’m not going to tell you anything is unachievable – and write them down. Then put them where you will see them. Every. Damn. Day. I want these goals so burned in your brain that you dream about them.

After you have your goals, I want you to come up with one action for each that you can do every day, which will bring you closer to achieving that goal. And then I want you to do that thing, every day, no matter what.

I would hope that the simple consequence of not getting the thing(s) you want most would be accountability enough, but if you need more, post your goals and actions on social media, so people can see what you’re trying to do.

Hell, you can even post them on the JPF Facebook page, and I’ll check in every now and then to help keep you accountable. Whatever you feel you need to do to accomplish your goals, you do.

Let’s make 2017 our best year yet.