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Get It Done
1-2-3: The Accountability Trick That Makes You 78% More Likely to Follow Through
sent by Joaquín Kosegarten | June 16, 2026
You know exactly what you need to do. You have known for days.
And yet, somehow, it keeps not happening.
Sound familiar?
The problem is not motivation.
It’s structure. And this one small shift fixes it.
1 Idea
Tell someone specific what you will finish, and when.
2 Ways it saves you time
1. Accountability works through a well-documented psychological mechanism called commitment and consistency. When you state a goal out loud to another person, your brain treats follow-through as part of your identity, not just your to-do list. The result: you spend far less time restarting, rescheduling, and talking yourself back into tasks you already decided to do. Every restart costs you anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes of lost momentum. Fewer restarts means more hours doing actual work.
2. A study by psychology Professor Dr. Gail Matthews found that people who commit to a specific goal with a specific accountability partner are 78% more likely to complete it. Applied to a single important project you have been circling for a week, that’s the difference between it being done by Friday and it still sitting on your list three weeks from now.
3 Steps to Get It Done:
1.Right now, identify one task you have been postponing. Write it down with a specific deadline: not “this week” but “by Thursday at 5pm.”
2.Send a message to one person, a colleague, a friend, or a partner, telling them what you will finish and when.
3.Ask them to check in with you at that deadline. A simple “did you do it?” is all the structure you need.
Conclusion
The moment you make your goal someone else’s business, it stops being optional. Pick one thing today, tell one person, and watch how differently you show up to it tomorrow.
“I shouldn’t need someone else to keep me on track”
That belief is costing you hours every week. Even the highest performers in the world use coaches, partners, and check-ins. Needing accountability is not a weakness. It’s how humans are wired. Using it intentionally is not a crutch. It’s a strategy.
As promised — 1 minute that can save you hours
Yours in Getting It Done,
Joaquin Kosegarten
Author of Get It Done
Creator of the 1-2-3 Get It Done Newsletter
P.S. Fun Fact: The 78% accountability statistic study tracked goal completion across thousands of participants. What made the finding even more striking was the comparison: people who simply had an idea achieved it only 10% of the time, while those who wrote it down jumped to 40%. But those who committed to a specific person with a specific deadline hit 78%. Three steps, and your odds of success increase dramatically.
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the 78% rule for getting things done
About the Newsletter
1-2-3 Get It Done is a weekly 1-minute read trusted by busy professionals who want to achieve more in less time without burning out.
Each issue gives you 1 idea, 2 ways it saves you time, and 3 steps to put it into action immediately.