Personal Accountability by Smartphone

Accountability: anything or anyone that helps you gain mental leverage to achieve the results you desire.

— The Accountability Stop

Years ago, I opened up a game app on my new iPhone. It was a silly pattern-matching game. The next time I bothered to check the time, two hours had passed. I said to myself, “Never do that again.” I immediately deleted all the games off my phone.

I found what billions of people continue to find: smartphone and app makers are exceptionally talented at causing us to waste our time on devices as opposed to doing the work we want to do. (If you’re reading this on a smartphone now, please feel free to shut it off and go work on your project! Or continue to read and enjoy the irony.)

For all the modern squawking we do about being overbooked and overworked, one would think that no one would have any time to waste on video games and media. Yet at least 37% of US adults play 8 or more hours of video games per week. And the average time adults spend watching TV is nearly 5 hours per day. 

If you aren’t making progress on your projects and you’re clocking in anywhere near these average gaming and TV viewing times, you might consider how you prioritize and spend your time. That’s a whole different can of worms we’re not going to get into. I’ll just say that the biggest productivity hack I ever discovered for myself was to turn off my television. (I have a new challenge now that I carry a television in my hand.) 

Smartphone Silver Lining

On to the non-news flash: used correctly, smartphones can be valuable assistants to make us accountable to ourselves and to help accomplish our goals. They do this in a few different ways:

Simplify – The best apps require a minimum of input from us. We open up the task app and start typing. Modern apps can suggest where and when a task fits into our calendar and to-do list.

Gamify – One step removed from the traditionally stodgy world of business software, modern productivity apps use the visual eye candy of games to make engagement more fun and provide stimuli to work on our projects. They let us compare our progress to others in some cases. They track our streaks of continuous activity to give us a sense of momentum and accomplishment. 

Notify – We allow our phones to nag us about the projects and goals that are important to us. If we adjust our notification settings so we’re only notified about truly important items, then notifications become a useful part of accountability. 

Use Smartphones Smarter

A few common suggestions to get the most out of goal-oriented apps:

• Choose one task app and stick with it. You might evaluate a few apps to make an initial choice. Give the one app you choose a good trial. If you feel like you want to switch to another later on, make it a priority to transfer everything in one sitting and shut down the old one. Take it from me, a drawn-out transfer is bad for productivity.
• You should be in charge of the app, not the app in charge of you. If setting up tasks or projects is so cumbersome within our app that it distracts us from our projects, then we’re really not getting anywhere, true? Choose an app that feels like it simplifies your life rather than complicates it. 
• Don’t overdo it. I list the apps I typically use below. Pace yourself if using apps for accountability is new to you. People are wont to think that they can transform all aspects of their lives in a month. Maybe start with just one app and one project at a time. 
• Be thoughtful about what you put into the app. Be specific about your tasks and goals so you understand what you meant when the app sends you a reminder. We want to avoid a garbage-in-garbage-out problem with apps that we control.
• Consider “inboxing.” A recommendation David Allen makes in the Getting Things Done (GTD) system is to have appropriate inboxes. These are places where new information can be quickly diverted for later review. I like to create an “inbox” within any app I use. Inboxing helps me avoid being sucked into the app every time something new comes up. I inbox the new item quickly so I can review and appropriately file it or create a task later.
• Depending on the app or how you want to use your app, you may want something that’s web based and able to run on multiple devices and platforms. 

My Apps for Accountability

I wouldn’t say I’m a heavy app user. But here are the main apps I use for productivity and accountability. (None of these apps sponsor this blog.)

• Task and Information app – Notion.so. Notion might not be the best choice for beginners. But if you want to take personalization to an extreme, this might be the app for you. It easily creates databases, web-like page tree structures, and summary views linking everything together. I love that I can view my tasks in a list, a board, or a calendar. I can easily drag them around on the calendar so unfinished tasks don’t turn into a giant backlog. Notion can be set up for any type of system you want to use – GTD, Bullet Journal, or The Today System. (Notion is free for a single user. “.SO” is a country code for Somalia. Notion has said in the past that it would switch to a “.com” address, but has yet to do so. I found various opinions about whether a “.so” address is a security risk. I do not keep any financial or personal data within Notion.)
• Language learning app – Duolingo. If you are among the few that haven’t tried Duolingo, it’s fun to use and a bit addictive. It’s free with ads. I put the phone down while the ads are running. Not only is Duolingo basically a language learning game, it includes multiple layers of accountability techniques with reminders, streaks, challenges with friends, and bonus point rounds.
• Workout app – Future.co. Future has been wildly successful for me to create a consistent workout routine. Its app has reminders and automatically logs my workouts. By far the best part is that I work remotely with a personal trainer. I can share videos of your exercises with my trainer, they can share tips and motivation and answer questions. It is a coach and accountability buddy system delivered within an app. 

Other Apps I’ve Tried

• Evernote is a popular note-taking app that has some task list functionality as well. 
• Morning Routine app from Ubicolor Ltd is a habit-building app based around a timed set of tasks that you create. One routine is free to use indefinitely.

The Downside of Apps

We’ve also all heard the arguments against over-dependence on our phones:

• Too many reminders and notifications can overwhelm us and become a kind of white noise. (Make sure to review what notifications you allow!)
• As in real life, comparing our progress to others could be counterproductive. If you get down on yourself when you don’t do as well as others, apps using challenges or other kinds of “friendly competition” may not be for you.
• If we don’t use our app for a while, we may feel a sense of guilt just seeing it on the screen. If the guilt becomes counterproductive, it may be time to delete the app and try another accountability technique. 

What’s Your Account?

Have you used phone apps to help with your personal accountability? How have they worked for you?