Blog Post Day 2: In which I chop beets, and set a micro-goal
One of the things that is so difficult about reaching goals is that big goals are scary. How on earth am I going to start a consulting business this year? Or lose 60 pounds? I struggle to lose five! How can I do 60?!
And this is why, my friends, I am setting micro-goals each week. Because they are way less scary.
Take it one step further, and you will notice that I am setting micro-goals about things related to my big goals, but not directly tied to them. So I’m not setting a micro-goal to lose 2 pounds this week. Why? Because that reminds me that my goal is to lose weight, and I already have a story about how damn hard it is to lose weight, so if I set another goal about that it will be just one more scary thing to fail at.
But here’s what I can definitely set a goal (and keep said goal) for:
- Drinking more water
- Logging my food
- Doing more strength exercises
- Trying new recipes
All of those are related to weight loss, but it’s not so in my face. It’s not so scary.
So this week I have set three micro-goals breaking it down to even tinier steps. Because a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, and all that. My three micro-goals this week are: Starting each day with a glass of water, doing 5 modified burpees each day, and logging at least one meal each day.
At night I am setting out the water bottle and glass right next to the coffee machine. I will drink before coffee. Before I’m even awake, really. Making it a goal I can do in my sleep. Sort of. The burpees will take three minutes a day if that. And while logging all my meals seems daunting, and I’m not quite ready to commit to that (though I know I will have to sooner or later) I can quite confidently commit to logging one meal each day. That is super doable.
In other fun news, one of my other goals is to try new recipes. So today I made a lovely beet salad on a bed of spinach with goat cheese and walnuts. And you know what? It was delicious, nutritious, and very filling. I shall be making it again.
So with all these goals and micro-goals, none of them are specifically about weight loss. And I’m keeping it that way. No need to scare myself before the year is even three days old.
Beet salad and modified burpees are a fine way to start the year. Normalize water in the morning, beets in the afternoon, and burpees at night, and that will be a good way to start out the year.
What do you think? What miro-goals do you have related to a bigger goal? Does it make it easier? I’d love to know in the comments!
