Throughout my life I’ve had many days #1. Started and re-started many diets, workout routines, commitments to self care and education. And I can say what unites them all is that I’ve bailed on every single one of them.
The loop goes like this:
- I get motivated by something.
- I think of something I will do to change myself in some way.
- I pursue this goal for a while.
- Something happens and this goal is de-prioritised or completely abandoned.
- I stall, degrade and eventually free fall towards a new rock bottom.
During this free fall, I usually get motivated and the cycle repeats.
I think above all else I wish I could find the strength in myself to stop and commit to an idea/improvement goal and stick to it for long enough for it to matter.
A massage therapist once told me that he fears there’s little chance of that because I’ve trained my brain to start and fail so well, that it’s now and expert at trying and failing, that’s where it is the most comfortable.
It was a genuine, sad realisation, but what can I do? Give up?
Well, Today, it’s the 16th of August and after regaining about 10kgs from my lowest point, not working out consistently for a couple months, I’m finally ready to get back to step 1.
However after failing so many times, I really want to try something a little different. I usually cram on too much and find this commitment hard to stick to.
Or set unrealistic timelines or have no clear end goal in sight.
For example, I know I will have a tooth operation in about a week, so setting a month or even a week long goal is simply unrealistic, in a week, I’ll be told that I’m supposed to be in couch potato/zero strain mode.
This time, all I really want to do is make a new pathway/entry in my brain: I set a concrete goal with a concrete timeline and I completed it. It may not be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I set a goal and I stuck to it.
I am committing myself to 5 days of:
- At least 30 minutes of activity per day.
- One journal and/or blog entry per day.
- One meditation session per day.
I am kind of itching to also do some learning/self development commitment, but let’s do this first one nice and simple.
5 days, super realistic/easy goals. Today is day 1 and I’m already done with 1/3 of the goals (this post) 🙂