Time flies so I hope you are having fun. I am referring to how fast the last eight weeks have come and gone. Eight weeks ago I set four life changing goals to bring more joy. Now it’s time to assess my progress.
The best thing about my goals is that they are long term goals. I have not made as much progress on them as I’d like so it’s good that my time is not up. However, over the last 8 weeks I did do some really important work in creating a foundation for my goals. I turned 4 general goals into SMART Goals. That is, I made them Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive. I also made sure I was avoiding the common mistakes people typically make when setting goals.
Now that I have set the foundation it is time to go to work and actually accomplish my goals. Checking in regularly will help me stay on track and accountable with you all. Here goes.
1. Lose weight. My specific goal is to lose 80 pounds and wear a size 14. The timeline is set for this goal includes meeting the 1st milestone of losing 20 pounds by the end of the year. As of right now I am off track. I have actually gained 9lbs in the last 8 weeks. I was doing pretty good initially but have really fallen off in the last three weeks. I have not been sticking to the action plan. The good thing about doing these updates, which will now happen every 4 week, is that I can use them to refocus and adjust the action plan if needed.
My action plan for this goal was Eat 3 servings of vegetables and 1 fruit on work days and 2 vegetables and 1 fruit on non work days. Work my way up to 1 gallon of water per day, with help of the water app. Limit my carbs. Work out at least 3 days a week. Be in bed before midnight on work nights and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night on non-work nights.
This week I cooked chicken and vegetable soup to help with my veggie intake. I will be having it for breakfast. I know it sounds weird but that will be one serving out of the way bright and early. I did download the water app and have been making improvements there. I do think I need get more specific with one thing on my action plan. I need to avoid sugar. I have let carbs that I had avoided most of the summer sneak back in when I added in fruit. I need to keep the fruit but cut, cut, cut the sugar and fake sweeteners.
As of today there are about 11 weeks until the end of the year. With my initial timeline I need to lose 29 (20 + the 9 I gained). That comes to 2.6lbs a week. I still feel this is a realistic goal. But I will have to work harder. The key I know is following the action plan.
2. Go from single to in a relationship. To be clear this goal is for a happy healthy committed relationship with someone who is just as excited about me as I am about him. One of my two sub goals to get me on the love track were to go on 15 dates in 6 months. I have gone on 1 in the last 8 weeks. It was a nice date. A follow up was planned and then canceled by the guy. We have still be in communication but I’m not sure it’s going anywhere. The good thing is I have been more honest with this guy than I ever have about my feelings. It has been interesting in a good way. The other sub goal was to get clear about what I was looking for in a mate by writing out a list. I have not done this yet. My time line is Halloween so I need to get on it.
I am making one change to my action plan for this goal. Part of the plan was to be active at least once a week on free dating sites. I am going to go for quality over quantity. I have signed up for Match.com this weekend. I am thinking that a guy who is willing to pay for a site may be a bit more serious about dating than the guys on the free sites. I am not completely abandoning the free sites. However I do plan to deactivate them and sign back up with a new profile that is more reflective of my current state of mind.
3. Have more fun. This goal can be quite abstract so I specified it to do at least one fun activity every week. Of the four goals I have been the most successful with this one. Other than the 1 week when my mom was in the hospital I have been having fun. Here is a sampling of the good times I’ve had in the last 8 weeks. I went to the Oprah #LifeYouWantTour, attended #WGSPhilly (Women Get Social Philly) bloggers conference, Took my mom on a mini vacation to Atlantic City, went on a date, had diner and caught up with a friend, went to brunch with a group of girlfriends, went to see the Equalizer at Movie Tavern (its really cool they sever you dinner during the movie), went out to dinner two other friends for Center City Philadelphia Restaurant Week and went to a mixer for urban professionals. This is really good. Just reading the list of fun times makes me feel pretty good about my life. And for the record, I even had a happy hour and a girls night in on my calendar for the week my mom was sick.
The action plan of having something fun planned on the calendar by Wednesday every week is working so I will keep it up.
4. Write 1st Draft of Chasing Joy Book. This goal includes writing the introduction, all paragraphs, title, and layout. The action plan for this goal was to write for 10 minutes each day using my phone’s timer. I have done this exactly 2 times. I have much more work to do on this goal. I am revising the action plan to at least 5 minutes a day. I can do this in the bathroom on my phone’s notepad if need be.
So there you have it, my update. It is not good but I have been honest. Checking in with you guys more regularly will help me to stay on track and be more motivated. Last week I wrote about Asking, Believing, and Receiving as part of the process to accomplishing these goals. Between that and regularly checking in with the SMART goals process I know these life changing goals will be accomplished. You guys supporting me is the icing on the cake, or should I say the cherry on top of my fruit salad instead.
How often do you check in on where you are with your long term goals? Do you think monthly check-ins are enough? How do you get back on track when you realized you have veered of course?
