SPUR Accountability Technique

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

While in Paris this year, I wanted to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. My cousin Genevieve and I weren’t able to do that on our 2010 trip. With two days left, I still hadn’t made it back to the Arc. I thought to myself, “Genevieve won’t forgive me if I don’t get to the top of the Arc.” So I found my way there and made the climb late one evening.

Thinking back on it, my mental exercise was a small, but effective, accountability technique. Often we consider whether or not to take action in the moment. We mentally compare two futures—one where we take the action and one where we don’t. Then we ask how the two outcomes will look to our future selves or others in our lives. Often we attach a strong emotion to that reaction—disappointment or approval.

What’s Spurring You?

I like to give a name to accountability techniques, just to be able to talk about them. Let’s call this one Silently-Perceived Unaccountability Retribution, or SPUR for short. (You’re taking this with a grain of salt, I hope.)

SPUR isn’t my own invention, now that I think about it. It’s the basis of most moral and ethical teaching methods. Parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors teach us morals—applications of right versus wrong that we decide in real-time throughout our lives. We follow the moral code we are taught because we don’t want to disappoint these people. Later, we internalize the morals and ethics as our own. (If you know an appropriate psychology term for this, let me know in the comments!)

As an accountability technique, though, SPUR can be used in more, well, trivial matters. If your goal is to go on more dates, you might tell yourself, “my friends will never forgive me if I don’t go talk to that cute guy at the bar before I leave.” Or you might be deciding whether to add to your PEZ dispenser collection as you peruse a garage sale table: “Will I feel like I missed an opportunity if I don’t buy this dispenser now?” In my example, I was considering whether a travel experience was worth the effort.

Time Is of the Essence

Time pressure assists the SPUR technique. A fleeting moment that’s not going to come back spurs us to action. When we consider what our friends might tell us, instead of actually knowing their opinion, it opens up our subconscious to tell us what we really want in that moment. On the other hand, if we’re deciding on whether to remodel a bathroom, we can decide “no” for today, but still have the same choice in front of us tomorrow. We can talk to our friends and find out they don’t care one way or the other. With no time pressure, we can’t disappoint ourselves or anyone else.

However, when we’re at a moment of decision—do or don’t, buy or don’t buy, assert ourselves or knuckle under—SPUR can give us the boost we need to grab life by the horns rather than letting it pass us by.

What’s Your Account?

Do you think SPUR is a legitimate accountability technique? Or am I just imagining things?