Progress is progress. Keep moving and never give up.
Do you ever feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel and never really getting anywhere with any of the things you want to accomplish in your life? Me, neither. Ha!
I think we all feel like this at some point whether we admit to it publicly or not. Today’s Mindset Monday comes from my planner on a day when nothing had gone right for at least a week. At least that’s what I thought until I sat down and reviewed my daily evaluations in my planner.
I felt like I had done nothing to speak of because I had nothing to mark off my goal checklist. What I saw when I spent some time reviewing what I had accomplished that wasn’t written on my goal work list was not as insignificant as it felt when I was feeling mopey about it. I had taken care of my household, worked, done some writing, and mostly stuck to my food and exercise plan. That was plenty!
It may have felt like nothing was happening when I looked at what I had done on my book writing, but I was still making progress there, too. It just wasn’t the lightening pace I had set for myself when I planned out my goals.
I’ve been taking a new approach to goal setting and achievement for this season of my life. I’m not setting deadline dates as often. If there’s no outside reason for a deadline, I’m leaving it open ended rather than pacing it out on a calendar.
Think of goals as a roadmap rather than a timeline.
I’m still going to get to the end destination, but my pace won’t always be the same or predictable. Some days I can speed down the highway at 90 miles an hour, while others I’m on a leisurely stroll. Both are getting me closer to the goal result, and I need to be happy that I’m moving towards it, even when it feels like a snail could outrun me.
With parenting and work and volunteering at church, I’m just not in a space in my life right now to narrowly focus on much else. Whether I like it or not, that means writing more than my daily journal pages will be the thing that slides down the list of important things to do. That’s okay, because it won’t always be like that.
In fact, here’s a story of a woman who published her first novel at the age of 95.
She never quit. It took her 63 years to write her novel, and she did it. She is my hero and a brilliant example that you’re too old or too late until you’re dead. Whatever it is you’ve been avoiding because you think you don’t have time or will never be able to finish it, just start. Start with something small and then just chip away at it little at a time until you’ve achieved your goal.
Mabbat 