Enlist a buddy, and Accelerate your Success!

How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? If staying focused and gaining momentum are important to you right now, it might be the perfect time to enlist a friend to support you in achieving your goals.

Using a “buddy system” can be one of the most powerful ways to keep you on track and accelerate your success when you are trying to make a change in your life.

Consider this:

1. Of the top ten ways to quit smoking, doing it alone has about a 25% success rate, while getting involved with a program that utilizes the buddy system has a 50% success rate.
2. Universities have discovered that expanding the buddy idea into learning communities for freshman raises their grades.
3. Manufacturing plants use buddy systems to effectively manage quality control.
4. Health Care initiatives encourage the use of buddies because the act of helping someone else make a change motivates people to keep going on their own plans.

I used to think it was somehow “cheating” to ask for help in achieving my goals. But if I look back on the greatest successes in my life, they all happened with the support of a mentor, friend, or team. Working with a buddy created an energy that propelled me towards my goals more powerfully than all the individual passion and motivation I could muster. Interestingly, the goals I continue to fall short on are the ones I stubbornly pursue on my own.

How can you use the power of a buddy to double your chance of success?

1. Find one or more people with a similar goal and agree to meet regularly to share your progress, solve problems together, and commit to action items.
2. Choose someone who will support your success, but has nothing to gain or lose by your success. Someone who “needs” you to succeed will not always be open to your choices. By the same token, even your best friend will have a hard time supporting you if you are competing for the same job.
3. Choose someone who is confident enough to be direct. If they always agree with you so they won’t hurt your feelings, you are missing the chance to be challenged.
4. Make a commitment with your buddy to support each other fully until you each reach your vision of success.