The Accountability You Give

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

About ten years ago, I ground to a halt on yet another personal creative project. Grand plans ran into reality and burst my bubble of enthusiasm. I had been through that cycle enough times that I knew I needed a different approach. 

I thought to myself, “If I can’t motivate myself to work on my own projects, then why don’t I work on projects other people have asked me to do?”

You’ve probably experienced this yourself. Isn’t it much easier to push forward on work for others than work that you do only for yourself? I wrote previously about how most personal creative work feels selfish in some way. I used that psychology to my advantage. I defined several projects in a row as a gift for someone else. 

So could you define one of the projects you want to complete as a gift to someone you know? 

• Could you write your science fiction novel as a present for your nephew who’s into sci-fi fantasy?
• Could you write and record your album as a present to your best friend?
• Could you create your dream English country garden as a gift to your spouse?

Maybe this goes without saying, but the gift needs to be something the giftee actually wants us to do. Writing a sci-fi fantasy and giving it to our aunt who likes cozy mysteries is just a self-serving excuse. It probably wouldn’t work as well for motivation either. On the other hand, when we write our aunt a cozy mystery, we’re able to think of her while writing. The process itself will involve the recipient.

We don’t have to tell our giftee that we’re doing the project. In that case, it’s advantageous to combine this gift approach with a deadline approach. Define a reasonable timeframe to complete the work and deadline that has some significance. Complete as a Christmas present, or for the giftee’s birthday, or a day that’s significant in our giftee’s life—graduation, mother’s day, father’s day, pick a date!

Alternatively, we can tell the recipient about our project. I’ve had success with this approach. When the recipient is expecting something from us, it feels more urgent to complete it.

The surprising outcome for me was that I started finishing projects. Making my projects into gifts was a stepping stone for me to feel more confident that I could complete my own creative work. I highly recommend it as an accountability technique.

What’s Your Account?

Have you ever given a creative project as a gift? Did that help you create accountability for yourself? Are you working on projects right now that you might be able to finish as a gift to someone else?