Of all the methods you can use to help you achieve your goals, one of the most effective is to form an accountability partnership. Just as the name implies, in an accountability partnership you and a partner hold each other accountable for staying on task to complete specific tasks. Beyond that basic requirement, there are very few limits on how you form your partnership and with who. For example, although I've been involved for the past year in an accountability partnership with Dan Weedin, we have yet to meet each other face-to-face. Regardless, I've found our weekly discussions to be extremely important in keeping me focused on achieving my goals (and I'm confident that Dan feels the same).

While that lack of limitations makes it very easy to form an accountability partnership, there are some steps you can take to make your partnership as effective as possible. Beyond joining forces with someone who you believe will be a good 'fit' as a disciplined and supportive partner, here are five tips for forming an effective accountability partnership:

1. Set a specific day of the week and time of day to talk. This will make it easier to develop the habit of talking on a regular basis as well as provide some needed predictability.
2. Use a strictly enforced agenda for your discussions. If either of you needs to discuss something outside the agenda schedule a separate call/meeting. Your accountability calls/meetings are strictly for accountability discussions.
3. Adhere to a 1/2 hour time limit for your calls/meetings. Anything less makes it difficult to accomplish a full accounting while anything more can encourage wandering off-topic.
4. Send 'read-ahead' information to each other whenever possible. If one of your goals for the week was to complete a written document promise to send it to your partner. Not only does that provide an even more tangible deadline, your partner may notice something (spelling/grammar/etc) that you missed.
5. Be brutally honest with each other when it comes to what you have and haven't accomplished - and why. This is the cornerstone principle of using an accountability partnership to its best advantage.

While I consider these 5 tips to be the most important to forming an effective and productive accountability partnership there are no doubt others that warrant consideration. If you have any tips that you think are equally important I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

I attending the Social Media Club-Louisville meet-up last night, renewing existing acquaintances and meeting quite a few interesting individuals.  It was an action packed couple of hours consisting of conversations on a wide variety of topics - some of which conversations I initiated, and some that were initiated by others.

As I'm sure you know, the general rule of thumb holds that I should follow-up with the contacts I made with-in a week to ten days.  By the same token, each of those contacts should be following up with me during that same time period.  So now the question is, who will follow-up first?  An interesting question, and one that I've decided to explore by only following up over the next few days with half of the contacts I made.  I will, of course, ultimately follow-up with all of them, but I'm just curious to see how many make contact with me first.

And no, I'm not going to disclose how I choose my groupings so if you're reading this after meeting me at the gathering you'll just have to wonder which group you'll fall in.... 

I was going to write about the life lesson that came out of last night's National Football League championship game, but my friend Dan Weedin summed it up much better than I would have -

To play the game and live your life as a true champion, you must exhibit all the traits that the Giants showed the world last night - teamwork, passion, confidence, and commitment. And...as Nike so concisely says, "Leave Nothing"!

To that I would only add one other point; Don't give up just because the experts say you can't succeed. 

Gretchen Rubin's Bus Ride Movie, that is.  Watch it and then take some time to reflect on her message - "The days are long, but the years are short."

Powerful stuff. 

I have good news for you if one of your goals is to write a novel - it's almost November, and that means it's time for another National Novel Writing Month.  What is NaNoWriMo (that's what all the cool kids call it), you ask?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

While the official event is geared around writing a novel, there's no real reason why you couldn't opt to write some other type of book during the same period.  The great thing about NaNoWriMo is the excitement, motivation and support it generates for those who are participating.

And just so you don't have to do the math yourself, 1,667 words per day will get you to the finish line on time. 

"So, what do you do?"  It's an innocent enough question and one that most of us answer without much thought.  More than likely you answer by stating your job title or profession - "I'm a truck driver" or "I'm a doctor."   True enough on the face of it, but those answers leave too much to the imagination and are especially ineffective if you're trying to generate interest.

In this week's edition of the Sixty Second Success Seminar I offer you a more effective method for answering that simple question.  Listen to the lesson and then use my suggestion and see if it doesn't make a difference the next time you're asked "so, what do you do?"

Actually you don't have to be too observant to know that I'm a bit behind schedule.  If you follow me on Twitter or The Daily Doug you know tht I've been battling some website gremlins for the last few days.  I think we killed off the last of them yesterday evening so things should start getting back to normal.

Thankfully the gremlins didn't keep me from posting this week's Sixty Second Success Seminar on time.  Go give it a listen if you'd like some quick advice about a useful technique for someone who's taking over as a leader in a new (to them) team. 

And, now that my website problems are behind me I'll be rolling out some new and improved features.  The first one is already up and running - If you look to the left you'll see a new menu item titled "tools and resources ."   This will be your source to products and services to help you improve your Team Building, Leadership and Communication Skills.  I'll be writing more about the products and services currently being offered - and some to be introduced in the near future - but in the meantime I encourage you to go take a look.

If you recognize the pop culture reference I've used in the title to this post you'll also appreciate the title of this week's edition of the Sixty Second Success Seminar ; "Get SMART."  Of course, if you didn't recognize the reference, you might now that I've tied it to the seminar title.

But then again, maybe not. 

I am not a computer programer, nor am I a software developer.  So I'm happy anytime I'm able to manipulate a piece of software without causing permanent damage.  That's why I'm absolutely giddy that I was able to complete what was for me a major update to the software that runs this site.  I had to do it in order to introduce some new features that will be coming down the pike over the next few weeks (that, my friends, is what we call a teaser) and I really didn't feel like paying someone to do it for me.  Everything I've checked appears to be working properly, but please let me know if you come across any broken links or other glitches.  And yes, I know that the flash video on my Sixty Second Success Seminar page is choppy on all but the fastest connections.  I'm working on it....

Speaking of the Sixty Second Success Seminar, the latest installment is ready and waiting for you.  What's it about, you ask?  You'll just have to take a chance and give it a listen to find out. 

If you think I'm talking about taking a crisp, clear picture then you obviously haven't been listening to the Sixty Second Success Seminars .  This week I invite you to consider the power and potential of concentrating first on the daily actions that will move you closer to your goals. 

You have set your goals, haven't you?