Accountability partner
By: Matt AKA Dad
Accountability partner: any person that holds you to a high standard and will assist you in reaching your full potential.
My dad, also known as Opa to my sons, was my first accountability partner. The earliest example I can remember was when I was in 5th grade. We were on our way home from football practice and he was asking me how it went, if it was hard, if I was tired, etc. As I was in the middle of telling him that it was easy and I wasn’t tired, I noticed his truck slowing down. This wouldn’t seem unusual if we were pulling into our driveway, but we were still a mile from home! He said “If you’re not too tired, let’s see if you can make it home before I get dinner warmed up”, so I climbed out with my football gear still on, and he pulled away! With the sun setting behind me, I began to run, determined to beat him before our food was ready. Thus began a ritual that continued for the next several years. By the time I was in 9th grade, I was asking him to drop me off 3-4 miles away, trying to improve upon my previous successes.
Starting in middle school, my parents would give me a weekly allowance for doing my chores. The list of chores was pretty standard each week: clean my room, make my bed, do my laundry, vacuum the house, yard work, cut the grass, etc. However, in the summer my mom would add bonus chores for a chance to earn extra money. She was always pushing me academically and saw this as a great opportunity. She assigned me newspaper articles and books to read. If I submitted a written report, she would assess it and pay me accordingly. I don’t remember anything specific that I read in the summer time, but the importance she placed on my learning stayed with me.
Between my three closest friends, my buddy Griff served as the moral compass for our group. He will never hesitate to tell you if something you did was dumb, an idea you have is off base, or tell you the cold hard truth (sometimes whether you want it or not). I dated on and off throughout high school and college and would of course ask my friends their opinion on each girl. Griff would hold nothing back. He once told me that my current girlfriend was dumber than a bag of bricks and more annoying than hemorrhoids. Harsh. When I brought Sarah (now my wife) home to meet my friends and family, he asked “she’s smart, funny and good looking, what’s she doing with you?” Thanks, Griff. But I knew I could trust him to give it to me straight, no matter what. If you don’t have someone in your life like Griff, I strongly recommend finding one.
My last example of an accountability partner was another one of my best friends, whose name is Bum. His favorite time to hold me accountable for my fitness would be when I was sick. We had this twisted idea that (we were teenagers, mind you) sickness was simply a matter of the mind. In order to remedy that, we had the caveman mindset that we needed to beat the sickness out through exercise. Not a casual jog, no that wouldn’t force the demons out. It had to be something diabolical. For example, he dragged me to the gym for leg day, where we did 10 sets of 10 for every exercise with no breaks. Then we went outside for cardio: wind sprints and truck pushes (exactly how it sounds, pushing a truck across the parking lot in neutral). Was this the best thing to do with a fever? No, but Bum wasn’t going to let me slide on our Friday workout! The fun part of this ritual was, we knew that we could always pay the other one back. If you stayed home from school with the flu, guess who was knocking at your door that afternoon! Me, ready to whoop you back to health! That’s just what friends, and accountability partners, are for!
My oldest boy, Caiden, doesn’t let me slide either! We hold each other accountable for our fitness.
Accountability partner: any person that holds you to a high standard and will assist you in reaching your full potential.
My dad, also known as Opa to my sons, was my first accountability partner. The earliest example I can remember was when I was in 5th grade. We were on our way home from football practice and he was asking me how it went, if it was hard, if I was tired, etc. As I was in the middle of telling him that it was easy and I wasn’t tired, I noticed his truck slowing down. This wouldn’t seem unusual if we were pulling into our driveway, but we were still a mile from home! He said “If you’re not too tired, let’s see if you can make it home before I get dinner warmed up”, so I climbed out with my football gear still on, and he pulled away! With the sun setting behind me, I began to run, determined to beat him before our food was ready. Thus began a ritual that continued for the next several years. By the time I was in 9th grade, I was asking him to drop me off 3-4 miles away, trying to improve upon my previous successes.
Starting in middle school, my parents would give me a weekly allowance for doing my chores. The list of chores was pretty standard each week: clean my room, make my bed, do my laundry, vacuum the house, yard work, cut the grass, etc. However, in the summer my mom would add bonus chores for a chance to earn extra money. She was always pushing me academically and saw this as a great opportunity. She assigned me newspaper articles and books to read. If I submitted a written report, she would assess it and pay me accordingly. I don’t remember anything specific that I read in the summer time, but the importance she placed on my learning stayed with me.
Between my three closest friends, my buddy Griff served as the moral compass for our group. He will never hesitate to tell you if something you did was dumb, an idea you have is off base, or tell you the cold hard truth (sometimes whether you want it or not). I dated on and off throughout high school and college and would of course ask my friends their opinion on each girl. Griff would hold nothing back. He once told me that my current girlfriend was dumber than a bag of bricks and more annoying than hemorrhoids. Harsh. When I brought Sarah (now my wife) home to meet my friends and family, he asked “she’s smart, funny and good looking, what’s she doing with you?” Thanks, Griff. But I knew I could trust him to give it to me straight, no matter what. If you don’t have someone in your life like Griff, I strongly recommend finding one.
My last example of an accountability partner was another one of my best friends, whose name is Bum. His favorite time to hold me accountable for my fitness would be when I was sick. We had this twisted idea that (we were teenagers, mind you) sickness was simply a matter of the mind. In order to remedy that, we had the caveman mindset that we needed to beat the sickness out through exercise. Not a casual jog, no that wouldn’t force the demons out. It had to be something diabolical. For example, he dragged me to the gym for leg day, where we did 10 sets of 10 for every exercise with no breaks. Then we went outside for cardio: wind sprints and truck pushes (exactly how it sounds, pushing a truck across the parking lot in neutral). Was this the best thing to do with a fever? No, but Bum wasn’t going to let me slide on our Friday workout! The fun part of this ritual was, we knew that we could always pay the other one back. If you stayed home from school with the flu, guess who was knocking at your door that afternoon! Me, ready to whoop you back to health! That’s just what friends, and accountability partners, are for!
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