advice
Good Buddy Is an accountability partner the key to keeping your New Year’s resolutions? BY RINA RAPUANO
KIMBERLY WILSON ADMITS SHE started working on her 2020 New Year’s resolutions back in September. Since the Washington, D.C.-based author and therapist has several lists of personal and professional resolutions simmering at any given time, it’s fair to say she’s a fan of the time-honored tradition of holding herself accountable when the calendar flips to a new year. But this veteran resolution-maker also knows the value of having a buddy to help keep you on track when resolutions are challenging to keep. For instance, one of her 2019 pledges was to attend three to five yoga and ballet classes each week. She enlisted a ballet buddy, and Wilson remembers a certain Sunday morning when she decided to stay in bed, but the friend texted that she was on the
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way to class. That text was just the inspiration Wilson needed to get up and go. “I was so glad to make the class even though I had made the decision to skip it,” says Wilson. “It’s not like it’s social hour, but you get to see someone regularly, check in and spend time together in a way that’s healthy and fun.” For Lena Katz, founder of the digital and print media consulting firm Variable Content in Miami, having one buddy was never as effective as belonging to a group that holds her accountable. “It’s very hard to get two people to sync up and be productive at the same time,” she says. “Once one person falls out, then the whole thing does.” She’s had better success maintaining her career resolutions by joining a Facebook group
GETTY IMAGES; RHONDA CAVENDER
Kimberly Wilson