The simplicity of a Check mark - how it can help you be accountable

Updated on September 11, 2024

byJ. Benjamin D'souza

The simplicity of a Check mark - how it can help you be accountable

Consistency is one of those things in life, the more you do it the better outcomes you get. People have been wrestling with this idea ever since people began to think. And I myself have wrestled with this for the greater majority of my life. Everybody says to do something or to get good at something, you must be consistent, I also mentioned something like that just a few lines above. Now I can offer you no secret because I myself am changing every day and any platitude I might offer will just be irrelevant.

There are many related concepts surrounding consistency. Now to understand it, we must first differentiate between consistency, Productivity and accountability. Because these terms are always used interchangeably. I’m not very particular about the definitions but most people are.

The definition of consistency

Consistency is quite simply put the quality of always behaving or performing in a similar way. It involves being reliable and steady over time.

The definition of accountability

Accountability involves being responsible and answerable for your actions. It means that you are held to account for what you do and the outcomes you achieve.

Productivity

Productivity is an umbrella term for a lot of different things, at least on the internet. It is also a measure of efficiency in converting inputs into useful outputs or so they say. Sounds very robotic, I know.

Why have I defined the terms? Because I’m going to talk about some other terms and it helps. Now why are you reading this post? You do it because you’re looking for answers, you feel lost and you feel like maybe if you find something you can reach your goals. Yea? Yea, I’ve been there too. It’s always a struggle in our minds right?

habits

Goals can be broken down into many little tasks, and a habit is a task that you do consistently over weeks, months or years. Do you see where I’m going? No? Well, if you observe they are all related.

Habits build consistency, and consistency builds accountability and accountability can be measured as productivity

Understanding the mechanics of a habit

It’s easy for a lot of people to say, just do something everyday and you’ll build a habit. Now they are right, it is easy to build a habit. A habit can be good and it can be a habit. Bad habits are easy to build, and good habits are very difficult.

The reason bad habits are easy to build is because it’s a within our comfort zone and easily accessible. For example, browsing too much social media or consuming a lot of content.

These are not bad inherently, don’t get me wrong. These are still very important things. I’m particularly referring to a case when you want to build a good habit but you find it difficult to keep up and therefore you consistency fallback into your old routines.

Now, if you examine what a habit is, it’s made of 2 components

  • Doing an action and staying consistent with it
  • Being accountable for that consistency

Now we’re all familiar with the first part of that component but where most of us my dear reader, fail is the second part. The part that is most important - how do you stay consistently accountable for the consistency?

The trick for that is quite brilliant and simple, actually. My dear readers, I present to you “The check mark ✅”

The Check mark

A couple of years ago, when I was younger I joined the gym. The problem with the gym was the need to be consistent, and if you aren’t consistent you don’t see progress. And progress in the gym is really slow, slow as a snail. So I stopped going to the gym in just 2 days, all my fantasies of having a 6 pack abs in 3 months went down the drain.

A couple of years after that, I joined the gym again, now this time I went for a couple of months on and off. Still not very consistent. Barely able to curl 5 kilos. And after a couple of months, I just stopped.

Two more years went by, the thought of the gym didn’t cross my mind until one evening I just decided to be spontaneous and just go sign up. Now this time my dear reader, I did things a bit differently. I didn’t keep any expectations and no goals, the only goal I had was showing up. And by the end of each session, I decided to tweet “workout ✅” as a way to keep myself accountable. I didn’t expect anyone to care about it and I didn’t think i’d keep it up but it’s been 3 years now and I’m still going to the gym consistently. Many of my friends on there who saw my tweet said they felt motivated to go to the gym themselves or start working out.

Now the question is how did a simple check mark, helped me stay consistent? Let’s look at how we usually stay accountable. Some of us either have an accountability buddy or write it in a journal. We usually say or write a lot of things like what you did, how long it took you and how you felt before and after. Now if you look at that, you realize there’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of fluff associated with it. And you have to write or tell someone many things. You’re simply focusing on too many details. Now I believe that this hinders your progress. Nobody needs to know what you did, all they need to see is if you’ve done it. In my case I keep it short, it just says workout ✅ (read workout done). It is for everybody in my feed and nobody at the same time. But most importantly, it is for me.

Now, my dear reader, take this little nugget of wisdom and use it as you see fit. If you struggle with consistency and staying accountable to your goals, I urge you to try this simple strategy. Whether you choose to do it publicly on Twitter, privately with friends, or just mark it on a calendar, any medium works. The key is to record your consistency with as little effort as possible and keep yourself accountable.

Your certified internet friend forever.

A little friend for a wandering mind.

Otto helps you take the first step, be consistent and makes you overall mindful about your actions.