It hit me like a ton of bricks.

In a late-night rabbit hole dive on Instagram, I followed a thread that led me to Jennifer Lopez. I’m not proud of this but it led to a huge “aha” moment, so all good. 😊

In one of many beautiful photos, JLo was wearing a beautiful gown and posing to deliberately show off her impressive biceps. She wrote that she was particularly busy and tired, yet still worked out every day.

Then I saw her hashtag: #makepromisestoyourselfandkeepthem.

Wow.

Does this ring a bell for you? Do you keep your promises to yourself as carefully as you do for others?

If you’re like most people, we find it easier to keep our promises to other people than to ourselves. A major reason is accountability. It’s easier to keep a promise when we don’t want to let down someone else.

So, if accountability helps us keep our promises to others, then we need to be held accountable to ourselves. Fortunately, there are two ways to do this.

First, find an accountability buddy. This person will cheer you on when you keep your promises to yourself and will push back when you don’t.

Second, work with a coach. Just like people hire personal trainers, in part, to show up to work out, a life or executive coach will hold you accountable to do the work required to move you forward toward your goals.

I have both an accountability buddy and a coach. Neither one lets me get away with breaking promises to myself!

What promises to yourself do you most want to keep? For how long have you been trying to keep these promises?

Begin by choosing to be held accountable.

Then you’ll be on your way.