For you to effectively grow as a human, you need to be accountable. If you don't act accountable, even for you, you can't hold yourself to the standards that you should, only because you will slack off and compromise.
Whatever you want to do, try and tell someone about it. I am not saying sell your dreams to others because we live in a world where people steal ideas and this is the importance of surrounding yourself with people of worth. Be it a mentor or someone you know that can push you, tell the person. Perhaps I want to write a book, I should tell someone who I know can push me when I am slacking off - that's being accountable.
In this life, it is easy to lose motivation and that's why you need someone that can keep you on your toes. Discuss with anyone that can hold you accountable. Just one credible person is enough - someone you respect and you wouldn't want to disobey. Life is easy to navigate when you have those who can willingly push you and ask you questions.
A lot of people hate people questioning them. They tend to always react - get feisty rather than respond - see the opportunity in it. They think they will be ridiculed so they are ready to attack. When people question you, that is an opportunity for you to convince them or sell to them what you believe is true.
As I mentioned earlier, you don't just ask anyone to be your accountability partner but there are some things you have to consider. The first thing to watch out for is accessibility. It's okay to dream big and wish for Obama or even TD Jakes to be your mentor but how can you ask them to be your accountability partner when the closest you can get to them is through the reading of their books? You need people you can have access to, people you can relate with and people who can be ever-present in your life's journey.
Another thing you should take note of is that the person must be trusted with personal information. There are some people with a loose mouths. It's easy to know who they are by the virtue of your interaction with them. There are some people you can never trust with personal information because you can be sure they'd discuss with another person. You must have studied people and test them with information to be very sure about who you can trust with vital and personal information.
A lot of people devised ways of telling others what was a lie just to see if they would spread such maliciousness and yes, they did. You will know who they are by the kind of fruits they display. Study everyone's content before feeding your soul with it. You must want someone that has integrity - if you want to choose your accountability partner.
Another thing to look out for is knowledge. Don't just pick people for the sake of picking. Make sure the person you are moving close to have knowledge on that area of your life that you want to build. Imagine me being an author and I decided to pick someone outside that field or someone who knows no one in that field that he or she can point me to for proper guidance, it would be an effort in futility.
It might be a long walk but don't give up. Stick with it and be persistent about it. Seek relevant people in your chosen field so as to make your journey easier, quicker, faster and smoother. You can feed off their experience to avoid the mistakes they made while reproducing the results they made.
Lastly, I would say, make sure after you have ticked all these boxes, make sure that person is someone you respect and someone that can challenge you. You can have people who earned your respect but they are the laid back kind of people - they can't even push you and would still be okay with you slacking off. You need someone who can challenge you to become a better person. Someone who can stretch you and you won't think they are overdoing it and that's where the respect part comes in.
Life gives us the opportunity to grow and we need to get the most out of life. No one can improve your life except you do it yourself and the process of growth is when we build the capacity to handle what we have laboured for. Success conferred on anyone cannot last if they have no capacity to handle it. In my language, we say "What you don't work for doesn't last".
Thank you for your time.
The person or partner you choose on your walk to developing personal or corporate growth determine how far you can reach or achieve set goals. For me, I like people who are optimistic never preventing until set goals are achieved. An individual with a large heart, a thinker is one of such people you should liaise with in your pursuit. I really have not been able to choose a partner to ginger or spur me to actualizing my dreams. But I have a dream and I am working vigorously at it.