Over the last year, NPR graphics reporter Daniel Wood — a busy dad of three — says he’s been able to maintain “a workout cadence I’ve never, ever had before.”

The secret to his good exercise regime? He has an accountability group.

Wood and a few dads in his neighborhood in Cheverly, Md., wake up before their childcare morning duties to drink coffee and lift weights in one of the dad’s garages.

“Through a combination of good encouragement and friendly rivalry, we hold each other accountable to be there,” says Wood.

Accountability buddies or groups can be powerful and effective in helping you complete tasks and reach your objectives, says Ayelet Fishbach, a professor of behavioral science and marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Why accountability buddies work

We’re social animals, says Fishbach. “We know that people work in groups. People have been working in groups from the beginning of time.”

Research has shown that people accomplish more when they buddy up. A 2015 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that couples were more likely to make healthy behavioral changes, such as working out more or cutting back on smoking, if their partner adopted healthy changes too.

So if you’ve struggled to check boxes off your to-do list or achieve your goals, you might benefit from an accountability buddy or group. Here’s what to know.

What kinds of goals should I set with my accountability partner? 

Before you set out to find a buddy, think about a project you need help getting done. Maybe you want to get a new job or start that business or learn how to paint, maybe you want to cook more or do those exercises your physical therapist gave you.

Your partner should have their own goals too. The relationship should be mutually beneficial. Here are a couple ways you can work together.

Work toward a common goal: Leah Shaffer, who lives outside of Houston, works with an accountability buddy to focus on her creative writing goals.

She and her buddy, who is also a writer with their own writing goals, have been meeting every Friday for over a year on Zoom.

Before she met her buddy, she had written maybe one draft of her vampire novel. But this year, she’s rewritten it three times and written two more books, she says. “ I don’t think I would have gotten the work done I hadn’t had my buddy.”

Enforce healthy habits: Francisco Ramirez, who lives in New York, joined forces with an accountability partner to tackle everyday tasks: going for walks, cooking healthy meals and getting out of bed on time.

Every Sunday at 10 a.m, he and his partner meet online. They tell each other what they accomplished, go over any challenges they faced and offer each other encouragement and support.

Where do I find an accountability partner? 

The person should have a shared desire to accomplish their own goals and be willing “to check on you and follow your progress,” says Fishbach.

They should also be able to meet on a consistent basis. “The most helpful buddies are the ones who are going to show up,” says Ramirez.

Not sure where to find a good partner? Here are a few places to look.

Your social network: Wood connected with his workout group when someone at a holiday party invited him. If you already have a friend who you think could be a good fit, ask them.

Your community: Your partner does not have to be someone you already know. Ask around about an existing group that aligns with your interests. “In a sense, a book club is an accountability group” because it helps you stay committed to reading, says Cynthia Pong, founder and CEO of the career coaching firm Embrace Change.

Apps and online platforms: Ramirez uses Focusmate to stay on task. The website matches you with a stranger to co-work over video for 25- 50- or 75-minute sessions. 

He’s attended more than 6,000 of these sessions to do “anything from knocking out contracts, blazing through invoices, writing my book, studying French, writing thank-you notes, whatever it may be,” he says.

The workout app Strava can help you stick to your exercise goals by allowing you to share your workout stats with your followers on the platform. Maybe seeing that your sister posted and completed a long bike ride will help motivate you to get out for your planned run.

How should I structure my accountability meetings?

“There’s really no one recipe that fits all,” says Fishbach. It’s up to you and your partner to decide how often to meet, where to meet and what to talk about.

Ramirez and his partner update a spreadsheet to keep track of their progress. It includes questions like, “How did I do? What worked? What didn’t work?”

Shaffer and her buddy create monthly, quarterly and yearly goals in addition to their weekly ones.

If you aren’t meeting all of your goals, cut yourself some slack. But if you’re not seeing any progress, or you and your partner keep canceling your accountability meet-ups, then Pong says it’s time to check in.

Maybe your buddy will say, “You know, I’m actually not as into this as I thought. Let’s try again in six months.” Or maybe your Zoom meeting time is not convenient for both of you.

Whatever the reason, see how you can adjust the partnership. Maybe you do your check-ins over text. Or maybe you move your meeting time, says Pong.

Keep sticking with your buddy or group, and you may find an unexpected motivator: friendship.

Wood says that ultimately, the social aspect is what gets him to show up and exercise at 5:45 a.m.

Not only does he have a more consistent workout routine, he says — he has a new group of best friends.

The digital story was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We’d love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit.

Copyright 2025 NPR

by DIANE HARDY

As a business owner in the city of Greenville, South Carolina I was concerned when city employees shared reports of discrimination against white men in Greenville’s police department (to be clear, they were referring to the city police department, not Greenville County Sheriff’s Office). As I dug deeper, I learned that the hiring practices they described likely stemmed from Greenville’s full-throated embrace of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion via the adoption of a 40-page document titled, DEI – Demonstrating Commitment to DEI through Action. 

The document (.pdf) contains, among other things, pages upon pages of detailed graphs and pie charts separating all city employees into one of seven racial categories. Next, it encourages acquiring the preferred percentages in each category so city employees can racially reflect Greenville demographics. 

Spending taxpayer resources to create a document outlining plans to expand equity (which is not the same thing as equality) in hiring is one thing – but what are the real-world consequences of this new vision for our community? 

Would most Upstate citizens support this vision? 

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What does the document mean, for example when it states, “the purpose of the DEI Initiative is to establish a road map for future actions… we recognize DEI is a journey, not a program. Our success is built not on promises but on action.”

One might wonder if other cities in our state have similar “action” plans? 

Also, what specific actions are they talking about? In Greenville, it started with the hiring of a Chief Diversity Officer within a posted salary range of $86,400 – $121,200 – an employee who is tasked with, amongst other things, designing and implementing “citywide customized diversity programs and training” while also coordinating an annual “Equality Index submission to the Human Rights Campaign.” For those of you unfamiliar with its work, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is a discredited left-wing non-profit responsible for creating report cards on adherence to ever-changing LGBTQ+ standards

The salary for this new DEI Officer? Let’s just say it stands in sharp contrast to the pay range of a new police officer who is expected to put his or her life on the line for $53,000 – $58,000. 

This plan also involves a reshuffling of the city police’s priorities. No longer is reducing serious crime listed as the department’s top priority. Strategic goal No. 1 is now “supporting DEI initiatives.” Let that sink in for a moment— reducing serious crime along with maintaining safety and order are now secondary to DEI for Greenville police.

As of January 2025, this remains on page one of the Greenville police department’s strategic plan for 2023–2027:

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Of course, we are all heartbroken by what we are witnessing with the tragic fires in Los Angeles, but the crisis has also caused many to think about local governmental policies – and how they impact responses during disasters. Sadly, Californians are learning the hard way that not having the most qualified people in positions of authority and public safety can have deadly consequences. Many are now realizing it’s best to hire people based on merit, not melanin content or sexuality.

Unfortunately, the problems with these policies usually don’t come to light until there is a tragedy. 

While the list of local governmental failures in southern California regarding the fires is long, one of the issues being explored is whether DEI initiatives adversely impacted the effectiveness of the agency’s response. Los Angeles deputy fire chief Kristine Larson has been blasted for saying: 

“You want to see somebody that responds to your house, your emergency, whether it’s a medical call or a fire call, that looks like you. It gives that person a little more ease, knowing that somebody might understand their situation better.”

In my opinion, this is a racist statement. Are we really supposed to believe when someone calls for the fire department to rescue them, they are thinking, “boy, I hope they have the same skin color as me?” However, this idea doesn’t seem too dissimilar from what we find in Greenville’s DEI plan.

“Our sworn police and fire personnel represent 40% of the City’s employee base and are the most visibly public facing departments within the community,” it stated. “Therefore, building public safety departments that reflect the makeup of our community is an important business objective.” 

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In addition to outlining race-based hiring ratios, DEI initiatives have many ripple effects, including countless training sessions which are required for all city employees. Here’s one example of trainings sponsored by the Greenville fire department for all its staff: 

• Age and Gender Diversity Training 
• Racial Inequity in the Fire Service
• Improving Diversity and Inclusion in Your Workplace 
• Understanding and Preventing Microaggressions 

Is this really the best use of their time and taxpayers’ money? 

DEI impacts extend beyond hiring practices and training procedures. Greenville’s mayor and fire chief are both members of the Racial Equity Economic Mobility Commission, which purports to push for change in the areas of “racial inequities and social justice.” The city has established LGBTQ+ liaisons in the city manager’s office and the police department. Even the Greenville Chamber of Commerce hosts city employees at their Greenville Chamber DEI Summit. 

In addition to jeopardizing public safety, are these policies putting Greenville taxpayers at risk for legal payouts? The DEI plan states that the city has worked “to ensure our projects and programs are developed in accordance with civil rights laws.” I am not a lawyer, but while it is very possible these plans as written may be legal, the fallout from implementing them may become problematic given the U.S. supreme court’s 2023 ruling against affirmative action (and other reverse discrimination cases currently working their way through the courts).

After all, the reason I explored this in the first place was because of alleged discrimination in the Greenville police department.

There certainly seems to be a vested interest in maintaining DEI programs that likely extends beyond ideology. There is a lot of money to be made in DEI consulting work, continuing education and employee training, but California has shown us the price paid for policies like these can be much, much steeper than just monetary consequences. 

I just hope we can have real dialogue on this topic in South Carolina before it’s too late. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Diane Hardy is a former nurse anesthetist turned entrepreneur, who recently opened her second franchise bakery in Greenville.  She is the Executive Director of the Mom and Pop Alliance of SC, which she founded during Covid upon discovering South Carolina’s over 400,000 small businesses had little representation in our State House. The Alliance provides education, communication, and advocacy for SC’s family-owned businesses. Her passion for South Carolina’s small business is strong, and as such she donates her time to the organization, accepting no salary or government funding.  Her love for our state isn’t new.  Before launching the Mom and Pop Alliance she was the founder and host of The Palmetto Panel (2014-2019), an annual statewide conference highlighting issues impacting South Carolina.  Diane has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and psychology from Michigan State as well as a master’s degree from MUSC.

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