“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
― Karen Lamb
Well, it’s the end of January, and if you follow me on Instagram, you may remember that I decided not to do any big New Year’s resolutions for 2019. Last year, I had probably 20 things I thought would be great resolutions, and you know what, I didn’t accomplish any of them. (Womp womp womp.) So this year, I decided to try and focus on building healthy habits. Each month I want to tackle something new. I don’t think any of these things will be life changing, but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. (Who knows?!?!) The two habits I wanted to try to learn for January were: 1. Making my bed every day and 2. Having all the dishes done at the end of the day. It’s January 30th, and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t complete a full month of either.
I did 26 days in a row of making the bed. (I even did it every day I was in San Diego, even though I knew the maid would come in and do it the “right” way after I left.) I completely forgot to make it this Sunday morning. I was packing up to leave our hotel room in the Wisconsin Dells, and the girls were playing on their tablets. Once everything was done, we left the room, and left the key cards inside. A few hours later (in the middle of nowhere Illinois) I realized I had forgotten to make it.
Having the dishes done was almost as successful. I made it to day 27 before I slipped up. I fell asleep upstairs with the Tater Tot and Small Fry, and woke in the middle of the night in a stupor, and basically stumbled to my own bed.
Why would I be telling you all about my failures? Because I don’t see them as failures. I see them as I consistently worked towards building good habits for 26+ days this month, and I see that as a major win! I was recently listening to Jen Hatmaker’s Podcast with Jon Acuff where they were discussing goals and perfection.
Jen and Jon talk about why the pursuit of perfection can be the biggest hurdle to “getting it done,” and how cutting goals in half can increase your chances for success a ton.
“The day after perfect is the day after the thing didn’t work. It’s the day after you skipped the gym, you ate the cheesecake, you smoked another cigarette, whatever it is the thing your’e trying to do. It’s the day after that… Part of beating perfectionism is admitting you’re going to have a day after perfect.”
Although I didn’t make it the full month, I have made my bed every day since. I also have a sink full of soapy water waiting for me to get those last few dishes done, and that is a win in my book!
