I’m not doing a list of goals this year, but I did think of ONE thing I should really work on – not rushing around so much.
I have this bad habit of stacking activities/chores/errands/whatever because in my mind that’s more efficient and leaves me more free time later, but it NEVER works out that way. When I get to the end I am exhausted and cranky.
For example, today is my Friday off, my plan is to:
- Do my long run (I won’t have time tomorrow morning and I want to chill Sunday morning with Steven)
- Get a haircut
- Stop at Trader Joe’s?
- Get a massage
- Get a car wash?
- Do a video call with a friend in Australia
That is too much stuff! When I was making the massage appointment for today and saw I already had a hair appointment I almost didn’t make it. But no days next week made sense for the massage, and my body really needs it.
Sigh.
Now, how do I turn this into a SMART goal?
I don’t have any related photos so I present blissed out Starbuck. I should aim to be as calm as her.
Speaking of calm, my snister sent me this message Monday:
I love those three for me. My snister knows me so well. Now, to figure out how to calm down…
I can relate! I do it for exactly the same reason that you do it, because I think it’s more efficient somehow. However, this does kind of look like a fun day. Get the long run knocked out, get the haircut, and then treat your body to a massage. The more I think about it, the more I might be a little jealous.
Does it ever work out for you? Like you get to the end and actually relax but aren’t dead-tired?
And this was kind of a fun day! I also stopped and got a Impossible Whopper in between the haircut and massage. Yum!
Hmmm…I love the challenge of creating a SMART goal. Maybe at the end of the day you sit down and track how harried/hurried/rushed you felt during the day on a Likert scale? And aim for a certain score or below a certain percentage of days? So, you do a scale from 1 (leisurely day) to 5 (never stopped moving) and aim for 75% of days to be a three or below? Everything can measured somehow, right?!
That is a great idea! I love that. I just need to find a way to do it and not make myself hate that it’s another thing I am tracking. I think that is doable though!
I tend to overschedule myself on my off-days. I think the trick is to maybe just limit it to three things (depending on how time consuming they are)?
I think I should look at that but also how far away they are. The haircut place is 30 mins away and so is the massage place so it was a lot of car time (but I did listen to a lot of my audiobook so there’s that!).
Hmm… how to turn this into a SMART goal? Maybe one Friday a month, you have to have a chill day where you only leave the house for one thing? (I won’t count your run/other workouts.) I am excited for you to have a calmer year with this goal, though!
I also really love that this is the SECOND “Why Am I Like This?” post you’ve written based on the URL, haha.
I think that is a great start – just not filling my Friday off full of stuff. Actually sitting and being. Napping. Painting and listening to a movie only I want to see. It sounds divine!
Ha! I love that you noticed!
I am also guilty of this. I look forward to seeing how you shift your approach to your days off and make them more about YOU and less about what needs to be done. (Or, what you think needs to be done. :>)
Thank you! So far it’s a lot of self talk before I do things. Like will rushing around and tidying up make me feel better? Yes or no. It sounds simple but it’s making a difference!