Is there some stuff you really want to get done? Projects you haven’t finished? Even dreams you’ve been putting off (maybe for years)?
Accountabuddies helps you and your friends get your hard stuff done right in the middle of your busy life using the best, most overlooked resource on the planet:
Each Other.
How it works:
You and 4 or 5 friends become a buddy team, meeting regularly (every 1-4 weeks).
At each meeting, buddies take turns naming one hard thing they want to get done in the upcoming week or two. It might be making a tough phone call, or going to the gym, or writing for 5 minutes on a sales presentation you’ve been putting off.
Everyone writes down all the steps, and you leave the meeting with steps on a card to tuck into your wallet.
The next week, you come back and report to the group how your step went. There are cheers when you did it, and sympathy when you didn’t. Then you each pledge a new step for the upcoming week.
It sounds so basic, but the results are remarkable! It turns out support and accountability (and sometimes a gentle kick in the pants) really help you get the hard stuff done.
toSome of the things my Maine buddies and I have done:
Get my college degree at age 75 – Start a non-profit to combat human trafficking – Finally write the book I’ve always had in me – Become a police chaplain – Launch a town-wide Kindness Day in the city of Bath, Maine – Live in Tanzania part-time – Have a gallery showing of my photographs – Go on stage for the first time at age 80 – Trade in teaching to become a camp director –
Could you do this on your own? Absolutely! But here’s the thing: I’ve already made all your mistakes for you!
I’ve led 48 accountabuddies teams in the last 12 years, and figured out what works best through hundreds of hours of trial and error.
Now I have a great, simple structure, a couple of tools, and two or three bits of road-tested advice to help your team do more than you EVER thought you could do.
I have some friends who would love this! Show me how to get started.
I’d like to see this in action!
Before I do this, I want to figure out a better goal.
So who am I and what’s the story?
I’m Darreby Ambler, I live in a tiny town in Maine, and I created Accountabuddies to help people like me: procrastinators, perfectionists, and people who need an occasional kick in the pants.
I’m Darreby Ambler, perfectionist in recovery.
The Story
It was 2009 and I’d been trying to finish a children’s book for years; the perfectionist in me just couldn’t stop fooling with it. Desperate, I gathered some good friends into my living room for an experiment: what if we each brought a goal we were having trouble with, and helped each other?
I made brownies, and every one of them showed up.
Stories poured out. One wanted to find a way to travel for a year with her family. Another wanted to start a homemade chili ministry. Another wanted to take the mountain dulcimer, out of the closet and learn to play it.
We each figured out some next step, some one thing we could do to get started, and committed to do it in the coming week. We figured even if the step was tiny (“just open the closet door and LOOK at the dulcimer”) it was more progress than we’d been able to make on our own.
Over the next couple of months with encouragement, humor, and the occasional nudge, we started to bring our goals to life. Deb gave the sermon she always wanted to give. Kim changed paths and became the director of our food bank. Linda played us a Christmas carol on the dulcimer.
And I finished my book.
The thing is, we actually had FUN doing all those things that scared the pants off of us. And we did them right in the middle of our busy lives.
I was so inspired I had to try it again. Different friends with different goals, and when friends – my actual neighbors from tiny little Bath, Maine – went on to sing in public, start a writer’s retreat center, and TRAVEL To INDIA TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING (Jackie, I’m looking at you!) I knew I was onto something.
“Why isn’t everyone doing this?” I wondered. “We’re doing amazing things – and it’s free!”
I became a woman on a mission, and for the last 15 years I have watched hundreds of people – from all walks of life – bring their beautiful, scary, complicated goals to life with a little structure (which I’m going to give you), and the support of a few friends (so start thinking of names!).