Caleb Porzio

My #1 Productivity Tip

May 2019

I am not naturally a productive person. I love building and learning things, but my intense passion for a subject usually doesn't last long enough for me to get anything meaningful done. Also, I'm especially poor at doing monotonous work over long periods of time.

Let me introduce you to the technique I've used over the past 3 years to "get sh** done".

I call it: "Accountabilibuddying"

How does one Accountabilibuddy?

Here's the formula:

What have I accomplished with Accountabilibuddying?

Over the past 3 years, I've had 2 different Accountabilibuddies. Here are some things I've accomplished:

Why does this work?

At least for me, knowing that I told someone I'd get something done and then showing up having not done that thing is painful. So to avoid that pain, I make sure I've done my homework. If my buddy did their homework and I didn't do mine, I feel unprofessional and uncommitted.

For me, just the accountability aspect alone is enough to get things done that I otherwise would put off ad-infinitum.

Also, it forces me to sit down for 10 minutes and actually think about what I want to accomplish short-term.

What happens if you miss a goal?

This parts kind of tough. As soon as you feel like it's ok to miss a goal, you need to change the expectations between you and your Accountabilibuddy. This is SUPER important.

At different times, I've tried things like: you can't miss a single one, if you do, you have to do it the day of and text the other person it's done.

I'm currently trying the following strategy:

If you miss a goal, it stays on your docket every week until it's done.

I've also toyed with the idea of keeping it on your docket and not letting you set new goals until you have a clean slate.

One time, for "Discipline December", me and two friends set up a rigid goal framework and every time we missed one, we had to donate a certain amount of money.

There's no perfect solution here, just be very aware of the number of goals that get missed and how much of a habit it becomes.

Some notes and tips:

I dare you to try it

Seriously, there are lots of productivity tools and programs. But all of them require discipline on my part. I start off strong, then my interest wanes and I'm back to my old ways. Not this one.

This is different because someone else is making sure you stay the course and you do the same for them.

So think of a person, give them a call, meet at a coffee shop, and do that again a bunch of times. You won't be sorry.

If you do go for it, please tweet at me (@calebporzio) your results and questions!

Peace, Caleb


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