013: James, Duolingo, and Me: The 900-Day Streak That Accountability Built

Hey friends,

This week I've been thinking about how powerful an accountability partner can be. A good friend of mine, James just hit his 900-day streak of Duolingo. Which is an incredible achievement of being able to do something pretty much daily for nearly 3 years.

It was only a few weeks ago that I hit the same milestone - I wrote about it here. But the thing I totally forgot to mention - which is the biggest reason how I was able to keep a habit for so long.

Alongside the gamified experience of Duolingo (which I love). What really kept me turning up every day to learn a new language was this long-standing streak I've kept up with James. Because for the last 900 days every day I log in to Duolingo I see him there too.

Seeing him turn up every day is that extra bit of accountability for me to do the same. I'm not sure if it is inspiration or a friendly bit of competitiveness but whatever it has been. It has worked.

Without even talking to each other much about this long journey we've kept each other accountable for this amount of time.

It's funny because it's now gone on so long that we both can't imagine how it will ever stop. We've gone too far that the cost of breaking the steak is too big.

Because breaking my streak would be bad enough. But breaking my streak would also mean breaking that streak with James too. It now feels like we're in way too deep to stop.

This is why I think having accountability is a great hack for building any habit and in lifestyle design. This can come in the form of coaches, mentors, memberships etc. By having yourself accountable to someone other than yourself you increase the chances that you will do the thing you said you would do.

Here are some examples of how you can build accountability in different areas of your life.

1. Finances -> Financial advisor/Accounting software

2. Professional skills enhancement -> Online courses/Certifications

3. Leadership abilities -> Leadership coach/Masterminds groups

4. Networking -> Networking events/Club memberships

5. Relationship -> Relationship coach/Counseling

6. Creativity -> Design workshops/Art class instructor

7. Spiritual growth -> Spiritual Advisor/Virtual religious group

8. Emotional health -> Therapist/Self-help books

9. Business growth -> Business mentor/Entrepreneurial resources like startup incubators

10. Personal development -> Life coach/Self-development seminars

11. Travel planning -> Travel consultant/Travel apps

12. Time Management -> Productivity tools/Personal assistant

13. Mental Health -> Psychotherapist/Mental health Apps

14. Sleep Routine -> Sleep tracker/Sleep coach

15. Hydration -> Apps that remind you to drink water/Nutritionist

16. Digital Nomading -> Online communities/Blogs and books about digital nomad lifestyle.

Find one that works best for you. Ultimately it's just about finding something that helps you commit to something long term. I'd love to find more ways I can bring more accountability in different areas of my life. As I feel like it creates a shared experience that lifts the heaviness/difficulty of things.

For example, I'm thinking of joining a business mentorship programme to help get me more support. But I'll talk about this more when I've done a bit more research into it.

Anyway, thanks for checking in this week. If you've got any thoughts on accountability I'd love to hear what you think.

But here are some things I've found interesting this week.

1.  Scoreapp: Lead generation experiment

I've been exploring different ways to drive more leads to metalabs. One of the ways that I've found interesting is creating an online score/quiz assessment.

The basic idea is that I can set up a series of thoughtfully crafted questions that will help businesses learn more about themselves and then provide some quick wins in how they can improve themselves.

At this point they can either just leave with the information that was given to them freely or get in contact with me for more insights and our offer in how we can help them further if they need.

I like this approach where you offer up value for free upfront to as many people as possible. Basically helping businesses for free in some way then out of the 100s of businesses that you help maybe a handful will want to work with you on paid contracts.

I see this as the future of business marketing. Here's the scorecard I set up if you're interested in checking it out it's an assessment of how well your business is performing online: Amplify Your Online Reach Assessment.

If you want to set up your own Scorecard you can check out ScoreApp if you want to sign up you can use this link to get 50% off your first month.

That's it for this week folks I'll catch you next week. Have a good one :)

Matt

xx