I’ve always wanted an accountability partner.

You know, someone to keep me honest, to help me stay focused, and to share progress with. But every time I tried, it just… never stuck. I’d either feel like I was being too much, making it way too complicated, or the partnership just faded.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago: I joined the LEAP One & All program here in Lansing. Orientation wrapped, and boom — we got assigned accountability partners. Random. Not chosen. Just another entrepreneur in the cohort with their own path. The program encourages us to connect weekly, and it got me thinking: how do you actually make the most of a partnership with someone you don’t know?

That’s when two articles I’d read at completely different points in time came back to me. They had both stuck with me in different ways, and now, with this new partnership, my brain found a way to connect them.

Article 1 Topic: Bullet Accountability

The first was Benjamin Hardy’s piece, “How to Increase Your Motivation in 2 Minutes per Day,” which focused on the concept of Bullet Accountability. It hit me back when I first read it because it was so simple — almost too simple. But maybe that’s why it works!

His method made accountability friction-free and something that could be done in less than two minutes a day.

Here’s the gist of it:

• Daily Morning: Send your accountability partner your Top 3 goals for the day.
• Daily Evening: Report back with how you did (2/3, 3/3, etc.), and set your Top 3 goals for tomorrow.
• Weekly (optional): At the top of the week, share your “Big 3” goals for the week. At the end of the week, report back with how you did (2/3, 3/3, etc.), and set your Top 3 goals for next week.
• Monthly (optional): At the top of the week, share your monthly goals, and at the end of the week, do a short reflection call to report back with how you did (2/3, 3/3, etc.), how the month went, and set your Top 3 goals for next month.

That’s it. Quick texts. No long journaling session. No overthinking. No guilt spiral if you miss a day. Just focus, momentum, repeat.

It was a reminder that accountability doesn’t need to be complicated. With this article, Benjamin helped me see that accountability doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Simple, small, and consistent check-ins can be powerful enough to make accountability work for me.

Article 2 Topic: Weekly Accountability Meetings

The second was the blog post, “What I Learned from One Month of Accountability Meetings,” by Kristen Lem of Bi-coastal Babble on The Brassy about Weekly Accountability Meetings. This one introduced a more structured way to check in each week. This one was designed for weekly conversations that go beyond just reporting progress.

The format is straightforward: each partner gets 15 minutes to share four things:

• 3 Wins: Celebrate what went right.
• 3 Losses: Own what didn’t.
• 3 Fixes: Commit to adjustments.
• 3 AHAs: Share insights or epiphanies (big or small insights from the week).

It’s about reflection, feedback, and actual conversation!

I loved how this structure keeps the conversation balanced between celebrating progress, acknowledging challenges, and sharing learning moments. Kristen’s article showed me how accountability can also be both reflective and insightful while still being simple.

Getting My Accountability Partner

On the day of the LEAP orientation meeting, I was a bit late getting there because I missed my bus after stopping home to change because a woman on the bus spilled her entire soda on me, and we were supposed to be taking headshots at the meeting. When I finally got there, I noticed right away that the cohort was made up of all women and only one man.

When we found out we would be assigned partners, another member (who’d slipped in late right after I did) and I exchanged a quick whisper about hoping we would get matched with each other. As orientation wrapped up, one of the leaders came around handing out contact cards with our assigned partners. When I got mine, to my surprise, I had been paired with the single man in the room. It was honestly kind of funny to me, but I can’t lie and say that I didn’t wish I’d been paired with that woman at first.

My new partner and I connected over text after orientation and decided that Fridays would be our check-in day. The first week, though, was a mess for me as I was wrapping up my summer semester, and I did not even realize until Saturday that we had completely missed our call.

My Lightbulb Moment to Hack Accountability

After our next weekly meeting as a group, I started thinking about how we could make connecting easier and more consistent since we’d already missed our first check-in. That’s when the two articles I’d read popped into my head. Immediately, I went digging for them, refreshed my memory, and that’s when it hit me: I could combine them!

Now, for this program specifically, instead of daily bullet accountability, which doesn’t always make sense when you are a working entrepreneur with a lot on your plate, I decided to adapt it. Layering on the weekly meeting format gave it the structure it needed. Then, I took it a step further to make sure that there was room for relationship building.

Here’s what I came up with:

• Weekly Bullet Accountability: On Sunday or Monday, we each send our top three goals for the week.
• Friday Weekly Accountability Call: We meet for 30-45 minutes and go through at least one or more Wins, Losses, Fixes, and AHAs. Afterward, we take a few minutes to give each other feedback, reflect, and have a real dialogue.
• Milestones: At Week 5 (the midpoint) and Week 10 (the end), we’ll do longer reflection calls to review themes, reset goals, and reflect on our biggest insights from the program.

This way, the framework still gives us structure and consistency, but it’s scaled to the reality of our lives. And importantly, it gives us a way to connect with each other without the awkwardness of, “So… how was your week?”

The best part… my partner also liked this method and seemed enthusiastic about giving it a try!

Looking Ahead

To be clear: I haven’t cracked the code on accountability yet. If I had, I wouldn’t be writing this.

Overall, what I’m stepping away with having learned from both articles is that accountability doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to feel heavy. And it doesn’t even have to be with your best friend.

As I take a leap of faith to try this, here’s what excites me:

• This program runs for 10 weeks. That’s just long enough to test drive this hybrid system.
• I don’t have to figure it out alone — I already have a partner assigned.
• Even if we don’t have much in common beyond being entrepreneurs, this framework gives us a way to connect without the awkward small talk.

Will I stick with it? Who knows. But at least I’ve got two solid ideas to experiment with, instead of coming up with something myself that my neuro-sassy brain might make overly complicated.

Final Thoughts…

I’ve struggled with accountability partnerships before, but I’m excited to try something that feels simple, practical, and human. If it works the way I hope, then maybe I’ll finally have a system that balances focus, reflection, and connection—three things I’ve always wanted but never managed to keep together.

At the very least, I’ll finish this program with more clarity on what kind of accountability works for me. Or maybe I’ll learn that I was, in fact, overcomplicating it all along. Either way, I’m curious to see what happens.

So, thank you, Benjamin Hardy, and thank you, Kristen Lem. Your words stuck with me long after I first read them. And now, thanks to this program, I finally get to test them out in real life!