So if you haven’t figured it out yet… you were supposed to be singing the above to the tune of that song from the musical Rent… you know the one that EVERY single show choir did back in 1997.. heh heh…
ANYWAY! (ugh! show choir humor is lost on you all)
I am 614 days (1 month and 23 days) into my 1001 day goal achieving odyssey. So far it has been going moderately well…. It may not look like it from the scant number of crossed off goals to the right, but damnit I feel like I’m achieving something! And that’s what counts, right? I’ve been going at this for a year and I wanted to share my top 5 suggestions/lessons learned for anybody out there that may want to start a little goal setting/achieving of your own.
1. Limit the number of goals that are based on multiple parts or time durations!
I have many of these goals (taking a picture every day for 6 months, don't eat out for a month, don't drink for 60 days, etc). While these are great goals for helping to create good habits, they are really difficult and are potentially discouraging as a slip up on ONE day causes you to fail the entire goal for that go around.
2. Take a close look at your finances before planning your goals
I have a few fairly pricey goals…. Hot air balloon rides, trips out of the country, quarterly trips out of state, wine classes, cooking classes, buying pianos and horses…. Ok not horses, but you get the idea. While they all sound good, realistically it may be difficult to do all these things.
3. Get organized!
It really takes a good deal of organization to try and achieve a set of goals. Planning at the beginning of each month exactly which goals you’d like to achieve within that month will help keep you on track. I hope to start getting much better at this in the remaining 387 days!
4. Doing it together, makes it mo better!
This is something I haven’t really been that great at, but I want to start really doing in earnest from this point on. Doing things alone isn’t fun. Some goals (like doing your dishes every night for 2 months) don’t lend well to group participation, but many other goals (hot air balloon rides, cooking classes, classes at babeland) are definitely things that other people would be excited about. If you pick a particular person you’d like to do a goal with and let that person know ahead of time, you can use their excitement to motivate you to get it done.
5. Cut yourself some slack.
If the process is creating more stress and anxiety then you’re doing something wrong. Goal setting is about self improvement, creating good habits, and hopefully becoming a better and more fulfilled person... not a stressed and dejected one. Don't beat yourself up if you fail on a goal. Just pick yourself up and try it again...
That being said… There are a few things that I personally would like to re-evaluate moving forward specifically in regards to the time/date related goals. They stress me out. The purpose of all of those goals was to create good habits for myself… so I asked myself… does slipping up on 1 or 2 days mean that you failed on the purpose of the goal? Of is it more important that you learn how to pick yourself up if you miss a day and continue? While I see the merits of the former in the spirit of the goal setting goals standard... in many ways my real live will never live up to the gold standard and I am not going to kill myself trying. It's more important to me that I learn how to pick myself up when I fail... because I fail a lot. :-p
So from this point on, I’m setting a 90% completion criteria on my long term goals. the 90% completion refers to the number of days, not actually the number of units of goals (lol I'm such a dork). I've listed the goals effected by this and their new completion criteria below.
| Goal | Original | 90% | # I can miss |
| 5.) Take 1 picture every day for 6 months | 180 | 162 | 18 |
| 28.) Meditate every day for 1 month | 30 | 27 | 3 |
| 32.) Get up at 5:30 am every day for 3 weeks | 21 | 19 | 2 |
| 39.) Be on time or early for everything for a month | 30 | 27 | 3 |
| 40.) Don’t drink alcohol for 60 days | 60 | 54 | 6 |
| 47.) Take multivitamins every day for 3 months | 90 | 81 | 9 |
| 48.) Take medication every day for 3 months | 90 | 81 | 9 |
| 50.) Drink 1.5 liters of water per day for 2 months | 60 | 54 | 6 |
| 77.) Set a budget and stick to it for 2 months | 60 | 54 | 6 |
| 78.) Don't eat out for 1 month | 30 | 27 | 3 |
| 84.) Use the foot thing in the shower every day for 2 month | 60 | 54 | 6 |
| 35.) Go to bed with all clothing hung and no clothing on bed, floor, etc for 45 days | 45 | 41 | 5 |
| 87.) Leave no dishes in the sink overnight for 1 month | 30 | 27 | 3 |
| 88.) Make bed every day for 1 month | 30 | 27 | 3 |
Honestly I'm looking forward to working on these goals SO much more now that the pressure has been lessened slightly.
That's all for now... Day 615 here I come!
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