About Accountablicity

It grew out of three very real challenges in my own life: managing myself, managing a growing business, and helping raise a child to become responsible, respectful, and helpful.

On the surface, these seemed like three completely different problems.

Eventually, I realized they had something important in common.

They were all accountability problems.

And I didn’t need three different solutions. I needed one simple system that could help turn good intentions into consistent action.

That’s how Accountablicity was born.

It Started With Me

I’ve always been a dreamer.

I have no shortage of things I want to accomplish, places I want to go, businesses I want to build, things I want to learn, and ways I want to improve my life.

The problem is that my list can become enormous.

There have been plenty of times when I’ve looked at everything I wanted or needed to do and felt like a deer in the headlights.

Where do I start?

What matters most today? What can wait until next week? What should wait until next year?

Without a system I truly trusted to prioritize those things, I often felt guilty about whatever I chose to do. If I worked on one thing, part of me wondered whether I should be working on something else.

And that uncertainty sometimes led to the worst possible outcome: drifting.

Instead of confidently moving forward on the things that mattered most, I could spend too much time deciding what to do next—and ultimately accomplish less.

I didn’t need another to-do list.

I needed a system that could help me decide what matters, when it matters, and then help me follow through.

That became the beginning of Personal Accountablicity.

Then There Was Our Family

My wife and I were experiencing a completely different version of the same problem at home.

We were tired of reminding our son about the same little things over and over again.

Pick up your socks. Throw away the snack bag and soda can. Pick up your toys. Make your bed.

None of these things was particularly difficult. But the list was long, and no matter how many times we reminded—or, as parents sometimes have to admit, nagged—it often seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

So we tried a checklist. It worked for a night or two.

Then we added rewards for completing chores. Eventually we added penalties when clothes were left on the floor or responsibilities weren’t completed.

But the system became messy.

Someone still had to remember the checklist, check the checklist, keep track of rewards and penalties, remind everyone what was supposed to happen, and follow up when it didn’t.

The system for managing the system was becoming another job.

And that’s when we realized we didn’t just want our son to pick up his socks. We wanted to help him become a young man who learns to be responsible, respectful, helpful, and capable of keeping his commitments without someone constantly standing over him.

Accountablicity gave us a better way.

Instead of Mom and Dad always being the reminder, the system could do the reminding. Instead of us tracking everything, the system could help keep track. And instead of constantly telling our son what to do next, we could spend more of our energy encouraging him, recognizing progress, and helping him learn to manage his own responsibilities.

That led to another principle we believe deeply:

Let the system do the reminding so the relationship doesn’t have to.

That became Family Accountablicity.

And Then My Business Outgrew Me

At the same time, my business was growing. So was my team.

I had read somewhere that around 12 people was about the maximum number one person could effectively manage. At last count, I was managing 19.

Things were beginning to fall through the cracks.

Most of the people working for me were freelancers working full-time but remotely.

Of course I trusted they were all working hard, but a business should not operate on trust alone, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized something uncomfortable:

The problem wasn’t them. The problem was me.

I had created what amounted to an “I trust you” management system.

I’d give people responsibilities and then go back to everything else I had to do, assuming it would all get done.

From my team’s perspective, I was often too busy to ask what they were working on, whether something had been completed, or what was preventing them from getting it done.

There were few clearly established consequences when commitments weren’t kept.

I expected accountability from my team, but I wasn’t consistently providing accountability to them.

That wasn’t their failure. It was mine.

So we built a simple system around commitments, ownership, follow-through, and accountability. That became Business Accountablicity.

And my business came back under control.

Not because I started micromanaging people. Quite the opposite.

We finally had a system that meant I didn’t have to.

One System. Three Parts of Life.

That’s when the larger idea behind Accountablicity became clear to me.

I had three seemingly unrelated challenges:

• Personal: I couldn’t effectively manage everything I expected of myself.
• Family: We couldn’t effectively manage everything we expected our son to remember and do.
• Business: I couldn’t effectively manage everything I expected my team to accomplish.

But underneath all three was the same problem:

Accountability wasn’t systematic.

Once it became systematic, things changed.

And that’s what we’ve built Accountablicity to do for others.

More Than an Accountability Partner

Accountablicity began partly with my belief in the power of human accountability.

Years ago, a close friend told me about a group of men who had worked out together every morning at 5:00 a.m. for more than 15 years. They called themselves their “tribe.” They encouraged one another, challenged one another, and expected one another to show up.

I wanted that kind of accountability in my own life. And I still believe deeply in it.

That’s why Accountablicity allows you to bring trusted people into the process when you want or need additional support.

But we’ve learned something else along the way:

You shouldn’t have to depend upon another person looking over your shoulder every day in order to stay on track.

Accountablicity itself is designed to become your greatest accountability assist.

It helps you identify what matters, turn those priorities into commitments and actions, and consistently brings you back to the things you’ve decided are important.

Add human support when you want it. Invite an accountability partner when you need one.

But start with the system.

How Accountablicity Works

The philosophy behind Accountablicity is intentionally simple:

Dreams inspire Goals. Goals require Commitments. Commitments are fulfilled through Actions. And those actions, consistently completed over time, are how dreams become reality.

Accountability shouldn’t make you feel guilty about everything you haven’t done.

It should give you confidence about what you should be doing now.

It shouldn’t require parents to nag their children.

It should help children learn to manage their own responsibilities.

And it shouldn’t require business owners and managers to constantly look over people’s shoulders.

It should make commitments and accountability clear enough that people can manage themselves.

Very Simply, It Works.

We’re building Accountablicity because we’ve experienced these problems ourselves.

We use it.

We’ve watched it bring structure to our personal lives, reduce friction in our family, and bring greater control and accountability to our business.

And perhaps the best thing we can say about it is the simplest:

It works.

Because ultimately, Accountablicity isn’t about completing more tasks. It’s about becoming the person you want to become, raising children who learn to take responsibility for themselves, building organizations where people keep their commitments—and spending more of our lives doing the things that truly matter.