Habit Tip: Set Goals When You’re Tired.
I like to set a few small goals for myself each week that will help nudge my bigger goals along.
I’m pretty good at meeting goals……..but…
…almost never in the time-frame that I expect myself to.
I usually meet them like a month (or two….or five…) later than intended.
Here’s what happens…(maybe it feels familiar)
My schedule changes a lot week to week, so I usually set my goals when I plan my week ahead, which happens when I have a quiet moment on a Saturday or Sunday when I’ve started to recover from a busy week.
I feel optimistic about what Near-Future-Beth will be capable of and I say something like:
“Last week was crazy! But this week I’ll have more time and won’t be so exhausted.”
So- when I’m feeling my best- I plot out what I’d like to accomplish
or when I expect to work on such projects, or when I will do my practices each day, or what/when I’ll post on social media, or what emails I’ll send…
thinking there’s no reason for this NOT to work!
…And then, something unexpected comes up, or the task takes longer than I anticipated or I procrastinate, or “life” gets very “life-y.”
So I end the week feeling down about what I didn’t accomplish.
If this sounds like you too, maybe we can try this experiment together:
What if we set our goals and plan our week when we’re tired?
Think about who you are…who you actually are during the week. When do you start to waiver?
Many of us are tired more often than we’re refreshed (I’m not saying this is a good thing, it’s just the reality of about every person I talk to.)
So if we want to set realistic and achievable goals, maybe we should be setting our goals with our “tired” selves in mind.
Our tired selves are pumped to take things OFF our plate.
Our tired selves have a clear picture of what we’re capable of…and more importantly not.
Our tired selves have a clear picture of what we have time for…and what we don’t.
Our tired selves see how long things take.
Our tired sleeves can look back and go “here’s why I made the decision to bail.”
Our tired selves can give us clues to what’s most important to us and what we regret missing out on
…not just what we didn’t accomplish.
The goals we set should take us closer to our best selves…
…but our current self is the person that will take us there. So let’s set that version of ourselves up for success.
My hypothesis is that planning our week when we’re tired will help us:
Prioritize our values
Edit, subtract or eliminate (yes I see the irony of including all 3 of these words, but they’re different.)
Set smaller more achievable goals
…which will make us feel more accomplished, which will motivate us to keep going.
(Tangible progress is the best motivator!)
What do you think? Will you join me in setting your goals when you’re tired?