Setting goals, devising a plan, and sticking to it. It sounds easy, but many people struggle to stick to routines—especially in the beginning. For many of us, when we start working towards a new goal and we start out well, focused on what needs to be done. Then we falter. We lose the energy to keep going, or something comes up unexpectedly to throw a spanner in the works.

There are many reasons for this, and for the most part, it all comes down to personality. Even if those routines are nicely tuned with the way we work, we still find reasons to procrastinate, avoiding what it is we should be focusing on. And it's often on a subconscious level.

Are you one that readily meets deadlines, even self-imposed ones? Or are you one that meets externally imposed deadlines but not the self-imposed ones? Or are you a person who laughs at deadlines? ("I'll do it when I feel like it." Yeah, I know people like this.)

In today's post, I want to talk about the way in which we respond to meeting our deadlines and expectations, and I want to explain why accountability is one of the best tools that writers can use to keep them on track.

Accountability for all personality types

In Gretchen Rubin's book The Four Tendencies, the way we respond to external and internal expectations is fully explored, including why we might struggle to meet deadlines and stick to routines. I'm not going to go into full detail here (go read her book—it's really good!) but understanding how you react to deadlines will help you to forge strategies to get your projects done.

Writing often involves self-imposed deadlines. No one is going to be looking over your shoulder, ensuring that you're writing that first draft. Or are they?

One of the best strategies that a writer can use to help meet deadlines is accountability.

Accountability for the Upholder

There are some people out there who like rules and structure. They have zero issues meeting external and internal expectations. Gretchen Rubin called this group of people upholders, because they tend to uphold the rules for everyone (and can get a little upset when someone doesn't follow the rules).

For the writers who fall into this category, keep doing what you're doing. For the most part, you'll be fine sticking to your routines and meeting whatever deadlines are thrown your way. But the rest of us need to play a few tricks so our subconscious doesn't work against us.

Accountability for the Obliger

Gretchen Rubin did some statistics on this during her research for her book. It turns out that most people are what she calls obligers—people who have little issue meeting external deadlines but struggle with the self-imposed ones. And obligers have a bad habit of dropping everything that might be important to them for those externally imposed expectations, including family obligations.

If this is you, there is only one solution: turn those self-imposed deadlines into an external one. And the best way for a writer to do this is through external accountability.

You could join a writing group where you need to produce a certain amount of work on a regular basis. Or you could take part in an online accountability group where you report weekly on what you did and what you hope to achieve in the coming week. Or you could report on a regular basis to one of your writing buddies about your writing progress. The options are only limited by your imagination.

Accountability for the Questioner

Questioners are the ones who have to internalize everything. You ask them to do something, and the first question out of their mouths is often "Why?" Hey, I'm a questioner myself, so I know how frustrating this habit can be. But the good news for questioners is that we also have little issue with meeting self-imposed deadlines… but struggle to meet external ones—unless we can internalize the importance of those deadlines, making it important to ourselves.

If you are working with external parties (publishers, editors, graphic designers, and anyone else who might have a schedule of their own to meet), you will encounter those externally imposed deadlines that can make or break your production schedules. Internalizing the importance of those deadlines will go a long way towards meeting them.

However, the biggest pitfall for questioners is in the fact that self-imposed deadlines have a lot of wiggle room. And questioners tend to be perfectionists. Because the self-imposed deadline can move, the perfectionist nature will kick in and continually move the deadline—because that manuscript isn't perfect.

Again, this is where accountability can play an important role. If accountability buddies see that you're just tinkering with a project, trying to make it perfect, they will urge you to just get it out the door.

To quote a writing friend of mine, J.C. Harroway, "You know a manuscript is finished when someone takes it away from you." And the accountability buddy could be the one to take that manuscript away.

Accountability for Rebels

Now, there is one sector of the population who just laughs at deadlines regardless of their source. They'll meet their deadlines—if they feel like it. They'll do things in their own time—if it's convenient for them. And they'll do what you asked them to do when they get around to it—but the store selling round toits ran out of them a long time ago.

I think all of us know someone like this—a rebel. Unfortunately, there is only one way they learn: through consequences.

If you are the rebel at heart, you need to make the consequences for not meeting deadlines dire. As added insurance, make those consequences hurt where it counts. Maybe get someone external be the inflictor of the consequences. (I'm sure you'll be able to find someone who will enjoy taking on this role.)

Regardless of who you are as a writer, accountability really does work. But exactly how best to make use of that accountability will depend on your unique personality.

Use your writing buddies for accountability

When you set yourself a goal, tell your trusted writing buddies. Make sure that they know what your deadline is and exactly what it is that you are trying to achieve. Then let the accountability begin.

This act of telling others what your goals are does several things.

1. It will force you to phrase your goals in such a way that you feel you can actually achieve them. It helps in formulating those SMART goals
2. It will hold you accountable—to yourself. For some reason, the human psyche is preconditioned to feel a sense of obligation to things that we've said to others that we will do. Perhaps this is the obliger nature that Gretchen Rubin talks about in her book.
3. It will give you a secret support network, because people want to see their friends succeed. They're even happy to cheer on complete strangers toward achieving their goals. Having that added cheer section does help fuel your ambition.
4. It will give you bragging rights when you actually achieve your goals, both the listed and not listed ones. Let's face it, we humans are prideful creatures. We like to feel rewarded for our efforts. Sometimes, all the reward we want is a simple thank-you or well-done, and other times we're after something more. It's the little successes that add up to make the whole. And when that long-term goal seems so far away, it's the little wins that will help you get to the end. Anyone who says that they don't get a buzz after achieving something… They're lying. Either that, or they're not human.

Trust me, when you lose sight of what your goals are, your writing buddies, your accountability buddies, will be right there to remind you of what you told them matters to you. And they will be there to remind you of the little wins that you might have overlooked.

Join Canterbury Writers on Discord

If you are interested in working with me directly on accountability, you have two options: you can hire me as a writing coach (which comes with a bunch of other benefits, but does cost you money), or you can join the online writing community that I run on Discord for free.

Canterbury Writers is an online Discord community for accountability and writing sprints. We write together while alone. (I know that sounds contradictory, but sometimes knowing that another person is working at the same time as you are is all we need to keep going.) While the group is connected to the events and activities of those in Christchurch, New Zealand and the greater Canterbury region, this particular online community is open to all from every corner of the world.

With dedicated forum threads for weekly check-ins and a separate sprint wars channel, be part of a community that will hopefully keep you motivated towards achieving your writing career goals.

You will need a Discord account to join this community, but you do not need Discord installed on your computer. The web browser version works well to access all the features of the group. And if you are new to Discord, that's okay. The group is open and welcoming, and someone will help you to learn how to use the system.

Join Canterbury Writers today.

I hope you now understand why I believe accountability works for all writers. It's just the implementation that changes based on personality.

So, what form of accountability do you use as part of your writing process? I would love to hear about your own experiences in the comments below.