When motivation and willpower fail, support is essential. That’s when accountability groups come into play to boost your productivity.
Whether you work alone as a freelancer or were forced to work from home due to the pandemic. If you are looking for consistency in your workouts. If you’re lacking a support system or team to keep you focused. Or if you are one of those people who procrastinate too much. Accountability groups are great to keep you on the right track!
What Is an Accountability Group?
There are certain periods in our lives when we feel less motivated and tend to procrastinate a lot. In that scenario, we postpone things we have to do. In this context, having a partner that helps you out and makes you feel supported is key! That’s what accountability groups and partners are for.
Accountability groups are communities that help people get motivated and enhance their discipline, two qualities that are crucial to achieving any goal. In terms of exercise and sports, an accountability partner’s role could be compared to the one of a trainer or coach: it’s their goal to take your game to the next level.
Find the Perfect Accountability Partner in Online Communities
While everything we mentioned previously might seem great, it may also be hard to find someone (or a group of people) to share your working time with. In addition, Taylor Jacobson, Productivity Scientist, Procrastination Hacker, and Creator of Focusmate, gives some advice on how to make accountability partnership work.
Connect With Partners ????
This might be one of the hardest things to achieve when looking for an accountability partner or group, because you don’t only need to meet like-minded colleagues. But you’ll have to find partners who are reliable and committed to everything that working together involves. Also, they should be people that motivate, inspire, and bring the best out of you (not the other way round!).
Keep It Professional ????????
It’s OK to catch up with your partners over a cup of coffee when you get to the co-working or connect via Zoom. However, it’s essential to keep focused on work and remind ourselves that this one’s a work-based relationship.
Create Real Accountability ????
This last item might seem obvious. But it’s easy to have your ups and downs in relationship with these kinds of partnerships. However, for accountability groups and partnerships to work, it’s important to carry on daily actions to empower accountability. Share tasks with your partner before doing them. Set timers for certain tasks. And show your work periodically to your partner or partners.
There are plenty of online communities you can join. And where you can find the perfect accountability partner for you and your goals. Here are some of them!
List of the Best Accountability Support Groups ????
- Zinklean
- This Naked Mind
- The Pack
- She
- Dip.Chat
- MastermindJam
- Marketing 4 Makers
- Trends.vc
- Makerlog
- Fitness Sisters HSG
Zinklean
Zinklean is a Spanish-speaking paid community with more than 240 members, focused on giving entrepreneurs a friendly and safe online space to share their ideas and connect with like-minded people. Also, in the community’s multiple channels, you can clarify your doubts about different entrepreneurship-related topics.
You’ll also be able to find collaborators for your project, and get feedback on your ideas. This online group also offers online courses, events, and multiple resources, such as an entrepreneurship podcast. However, to become a member, you’ll have to pay €5 per month.
This Naked Mind
Accountability groups are not only good for work-life productivity. But they’re also great for people who’re looking for support or progress in other aspects of their life. These health-related communities could be considered support groups for people struggling with addiction. Or who’re looking to lose weight or become better in a specific sport.
This Naked Mind is a community named after the homonymous book, written by author Annie Grace. The book and group’s goal is to help and support people struggling with alcohol addiction. How? By removing the person’s desire to drink using science and helping them change their subconscious beliefs.
In this online group, members post updates on their healing journey, and can join channels inside the group. Also, members give each other support and motivation. The group also has a podcast. And it offers plenty of free resources, such as an 30-day alcohol free experiment. Or a 5-day video series to learn more about this specific approach to addiction.
The Pack
Since 2016, The Pack helps entrepreneurs and freelance professionals to boost their productivity and keep track on their goals. They offer their members a space to get things done. Also, provide them a sense of community, knowledge, and accountability. They also offer 8-week online productivity accelerators.
She
She’s a free community focused on Gen Z creators. It offers its members an inclusive and judge-free virtual space where you can meet thousands of Gen Z teens from all over the world. In addition, the group has live, virtual events and regional meet-ups. Also, it offers video content on curated topics such as self-care, relationship guidance, time management, goal setting, and mental health.
They also have multiple topic-based discussion groups led by teenagers, mentors, and influencers. And an online discussion forum where members can discuss with other members, thought leaders, and influencers. Also, they offer members unlimited resources!
Dip.chat
Dip.chat’s a community with multiple accountability groups for developers. And the groups are based on Telegram. Also, members can join and make daily progress over 30 days by putting money on the line.
One of the rules of the community is that members have to post their daily project update in the group. Also, members can take days off or enjoy a vacation with family or friends. But they have to post an update on the group they’re part of!
MastermindJam
MastermindJam is a peer-based community of business mastermind groups for feedback and accountability. It also offers its members expert coaching who’ll help them with growth, product validation, email marketing, SEO, and more.
Through thoughtful curation, this community provides its members the opportunity to join the group that’s perfect for each one of them. That is, the group where they can be heard, communicate with like-minded people regularly about their business and get support and feedback. Each group contains multiple features, such as a private group video chat, productivity tools, reminders, and a community QA forum. To join MastermindJam, potential members have to enroll on the waitlist.
Marketing4Makers
M4M is a paid marketing community for indie entrepreneurs who want to learn more about growing and distributing their project’s product. The group’s membership costs $25 per month. And it already has around 40 members which include product managers, SaaS founders, and more.
Once you’re a member of M4M, you’ll have to share with fellow members what you’re working on and what you’re struggling with. With the help of your colleagues, you’ll be able to dive into your product and see how you can boost its growth. Also, each week the group has a “MasterMind Call” and you’ll have access to a private Discord channel.
Trends.vc
Trends.vc is a community and newsletter for more than 50,000 entrepreneurs from all over the world. The group’s tagline is that it helps its members save 2,000 hours of market research by subscribing to their resourceful newsletter. Trends.vc has 3 types of membership:
???? Reports Only ($20 per month)
???? Reports + Community ($25 per month)
???? Reports + Community + Masterminds ($100 per month)
When becoming a member, you’ll have access to more than 70 reports, have the possibility to participate in more than 300 daily standups, and join weekly meetups. Also, you’ll meet like-minded colleagues, get feedback from over 1,000 experienced entrepreneurs, and get access to curated tools.
Makerlog
Makerlog is a community for makers and creators who are looking to be more productive at work. As a member, you’ll have to log your daily tasks, and share your completed tasks publicly to stay accountable. As you complete multiple tasks, you earn a streak, that is, a count of consecutive days of completed tasks. That way, you’ll be able to share your achievements while you encourage others and receive feedback from like-minded colleagues.
Sign ups are temporarily closed for product updates. Stay tuned on Twitter for updates!
Fitness Sisters HSG
As we mentioned previously on this article, there are plenty of health-related accountability groups online. Fitness Sisters HSG is one of them! This group consists of daily, weekly, and monthly fitness challenges. It also provides its members meal prepping tips and coordinated events.
This community, aimed for people who identify as women, has the goal of providing a fun, motivating, and supportive space for those who need help with consistency to reach their goals.
To conclude, accountability groups are great when you’re lacking productivity, or if you just need a push to get motivated in your daily tasks. In Unita we have plenty of online communities you can join according to your interests or career. Check them out!