Okay . . . so, I think I told you that you’d be in for a brain dump of all the happenings from weeks 2 and 3 of The 12-Week Year Challenge, and I’m ready to let you have it — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Mostly ugly, I hate to admit. So, week 2 started out pretty strong. I seemed to be hitting on all cylinders with my daily checklist/tracker of mini goals, leading to the overall SUPER GOALS I’m working toward achieving by the end of the challenge. However, I’ve still been struggling somewhat with getting consistent traction in on the mini goals involving work on the grants SUPER GOAL. I REALLY NEED to get that one going though. There are grantors looking to get rid of some funds before year’s end, and the nonprofit I serve would love to help them out on that front. So, I’m coming for you, grantors!
And, aside from the struggles with getting grant work in, week 2 was very productive in a goal-seeking sort of way. In fact, the mini goals to help me lose the 10 pounds I’m claiming to lose by the end of 2026 were getting done on a consistent basis. Whoo Hoo!
Now, you might not think that 10 pounds is much; but for me, it’s the hardest poundage amount to lose. It takes above and beyond dedication to get these last few pounds off. More than just the causal effort. I mean . . . I need to be just about in athlete-training mode in order for weight to drop at this point. Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it’s definitely challenging. Which is why this SUPER GOAL fits perfectly in this 12-week challenge. I’m telling you, those pounds are just plain stubborn and do everything they can to hold on for dear life.
But, I’m using three mini goals to put the WHAMMIE! on those last few pounds I wholeheartedly desire to let go of. Bet you’re wondering what those mini goals are, aren’t you? Well, even if you’re not, I’m going to give them to you, so here you go. In order to reach my SUPER GOAL of losing 10 pounds within this challenge timeframe, I will do the following:
- Reduce the amount of sugar intake. (That means that I will have at least 5 days a week where I eat foods with no added sugar and drink drinks with no added sugar.)
- Drink a minimum of 32 oz of water each day.
- Exercise by getting in an indoor or outdoor, 30-45-minute walk at least 5 days a week.
Now, I would love to add “getting a certain amount of sleep each night” into the mini goal list here, as I know that getting adequate sleep definitely contributes to overall health gains and would definitely benefit my weight loss journey. But, I have some external priorities that have made it quite difficult to be consistent with a specific sleep goal at this time.
So, you can see that I’ve tried to make my mini goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely). All these mini goals are detailed enough to be carried out without confusion. They are doable, can be tracked by measurement and time, and have some flexibility baked in.
And, I’ve reserved the right to NOT give a weekly report on pounds lost, because weight loss is one of those things that doesn’t necessarily show up daily or weekly. You could be putting in the work for weeks before noticeable change comes. So, I’m not one of those people who weighs herself daily. That action right there can get you disillusioned, frustrated, and ready to call it quits if you gauge your weight loss success on how many ounces you lose per day or week.
No, the mindset that leads to the results has to do with consistent output even when it doesn’t look like anything is happening. Push through, keep it moving, and don’t give up, because the RIGHT work done consistently will eventually lead to the desired outcome. But, the RIGHT work must be involved. And, I know that, for me, I can lose weight if I watch what I eat and drink and put regular exercise within my weekly routine.
To be transparent, I wasn’t 100% on track in carrying out my mini goals (above) in week 2, but I was pretty stinkin’ close. HOWEVER! Week 3 was a whole different story. Week 3 was the week of my tracker/checklist mishap.
And, simply stated, here’s what happened . . .
I DIDN’T CREATE MY TRACKER AT ALL FOR WEEK 3!
What?! Yep, you read it right. The very tool I must use to help keep me on track with my mini goals throughout the week was nonexistent. And, it was totally my fault. No excuses. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I told you that I repurposed a store-bought journal for use as a tracker. And on Sundays, I would write down daily to-do checklists, or schedules of mini goals to complete by day of the week. That was the goal, anyway. But yea, that didn’t happen at all in week 3.
I could blame this mishap on a number of things; but when it gets right down to it, I take ownership of this missed opportunity. I simply didn’t do it, and I could have. Sunday is the day to get my tracker all ready to go for the week, and Sunday passed with no tracker in sight. Then, I thought about it on Monday. “Oops, I need to do my tracker for week 3,” I thought. But, still no creation of the tracker. After getting to mid-week, I finally decided to stop going through the ritual of acting like I might create the tracker. It just wasn’t going to get done this week. And, you know what happens when you don’t have a tracker to track progress?
Well, nothing gets tracked, and you won’t make the kind of progress you desire. So, who knows what I did in Week 3. My brain’s not going to remember the details of it after the fact. (That was what the tracker was for — to compensate for the brain matter that can’t remember the details.) And, week 3 was a whirlwind of a week. Furthermore, I have no proof of what I did or didn’t do. It came, it went, it’s gone! But, I do know this one thing: I wasn’t hitting goals in any meaningful way this week. Not on purpose or on accident.
Lesson Learned
I have to be diligent with the planning before the execution. That means . . . the Sunday planning session where I schedule out my week by listing my checklist of to-dos in my tracker IS A MUST-DO! It’s the to-do before the to-dos. The tracker structures my day. For a procrastinator and organizationally-challenged individual like myself, I have to have systems and tools to help me stay on track with things.
I knew better than to leave the tracker out of week 3 of The 12-Week Year Challenge, but I did it anyway. And, instead of taking Monday to correct the mess up from not creating the tracker on Sunday, I continued to forward the folly all . . . week . . . long.
So, the moral of the story is to correct mistakes early. Don’t let them linger on, gain momentum, and develop into something that can take you way off track. Get a handle on them and correct them ASAP! And hopefully, learn from those mistakes so you can prevent yourself from making them again. Or, at least rectify them earlier on, since it wouldn’t be your first ride on the “mistake” trail.
NEXT – – Week 4 has wrapped up and is coming to you soon!
