Accountability is key.

When it comes to healthy living, it’s important that we have some “skin in the game.” The worst case scenario is to have health and fitness goals dashed by inadequate discipline. Unfortunately, I see this quite a bit. An individual will present with the best of intentions, setting the goal of weight loss or lifestyle change of some kind. Then they don’t make the necessary sacrifices to attain the goal. It’s a shame, but it doesn’t make a person a failure, only human.

We drop the ball a lot. Amid so many details and distractions, we are taken off mission. Workouts don’t happen. Clean eating fails, come the weekend. Adequate rest is not attained. Stress accumulates. All this is bad news for the goals we set, and a pattern of nastiness is reinforced. It is unfortunately common for people to trip over their own feet throughout life regarding lifestyle goals – a Slinky Effect – whereby they’ll make some progress but fall off the wagon, lose it all and have to start anew.

People decide to join DDIP at some point along this journey. The idea is to commit to a challenging program that they MUST follow through with. Have a crazy schedule? How’s an early morning workout – 5-6am? Not using your gym membership? Now you’ve got to be there or you’ll hear from us! Not getting results with your current exercise regimen? You won’t believe the intensity of DDIP! Short of the most serious issues and commitments, we don’t accept your excuses.

Key to the success of DDIP are the 3 Levels of Accountability:

1. Self-Accountability: I wish discipline and personal pride were the ticket for everyone, but oddly enough, folks get used to letting themselves down. Fortunately, when an individual trains hard with consistency, they will start to see results and this bolsters confidence enough to keep them training.

2. Partner Accountability: We establish accountability buddies. Suppose you are good at letting yourself down. Well what kind of friend would you be if you failed to show up for, say, a tennis match, study group or ride-share? You’d be a real anus – that’s correct. The “AB” pairing is very effective, but a small percentage of turds might even let a buddy down.

3. Team Accountability: The team is like patriotism, to me. Let’s say we’re talking about America right now. You have to do the right things to honor your nation, correct? Serve is some capacity, stand during the National Anthem, be a good citizen, vote, pay your taxes, mom and apple pie – all that stuff! So if you’re part of the team and on game day, you’re no where to be seen, we can’t count on you to contribute. I have seen in DDIP, time and time again, that those who contribute and function as part of the team – they meet and exceed their goals.

The DDIP motto is What You Put In You Will Get Out. BE ACCOUNTABLE – to yourself, to your buddy and to your organization. If you can do this, all that you’re after is achievable.