Remember those goals I wrote about the other week?
Here’s a recap for those just joining in:
-Plan more meals
-Log food consumed
-Add short daily workouts
-Solidify bedtime routine
-Clean up doghair
They kindof fell apart.
Any guesses why?
I broke the cardinal rule of goal setting/behavior change: DO ONE THING AT A TIME.
By trying to change a bunch of things at once, I set myself up for failure. I based my reward (oh, I decided it would be fancy new sunglasses) on doing ALL of those. Then when I only managed to do some of them, I devolved into doing none.
For example:
I started off with the logging of food. Every morsel was accounted for. And I was taking the time to get ready for bed instead of blindly falling into it. Almost every night! It was going quite well! And I incorporated the swiffering of dog hair – hooray! I was also planning meals and actually cooking again (much easier to do in a dog-hair-free kitchen).
But I couldn’t fit in the 10-minute-trainer workouts. The DVD is still in the plastic wrapping. I’m still having serious trouble figuring out when exactly to do it. My brain says morning, but my body says other things (mainly “grrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaphhhuuuuuuuuuuhhhhmmm”) at 6:00am.
Anyhow, so I’ve not been doing the 10-minute trainer. Which means no reward anyhow. Which means I’m only half-heartedly (if at all) doing the other things on the list.
It culminated last night when I remarked to Neil (after he closed the pizza box) I don’t care that this place is a sty – I just want to ignore it and fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV. Which I did.
So it’s time to start again. Slowly.
One. Thing. At. A. Time.
So I’m back to aiming for those individual behaviors, and tracking them with individual goals. Every time I finish a 1-week streak of one of them, I add another thing. When I finish two solid weeks of any one new habit, I get a smaller reward. Bailing on one of them doesn’t affect the reward for the others.
Then, once I’ve finished the two weeks of the 5th goal (whichever one that happens to be) I get the bigger reward (still sunglasses).
And in the meantime, I’ll hopefully manage to stick with one or two things on the list, and not give up on it all when everything inevitably falls apart, again.
This actually sounds like a really good plan, I may have to give it a try since I’ve let my health and the cleanliness of my house go since going back to work. Not only that but I’m too tired to make supper after work which has led my husband to eat sandwiches the last 5 days in a row because he refuses to cook as well..haha. Good luck with your goals!
Hey, It sounds like you need to add another goal: be kind to yourself. It is one of my goals as I fight each day to feel like I fit-in in this crazy health/weight obsessed culture. Living in Vancouver, we have a great deal of healthy food choices, and a naturally active lifestyle. After spending the last week in Anaheim, I realize that I’m doing “OK”. Be easy on yourself.