Small, Measurable, Managable
New Year’s resolutions…
We all have the best intentions with resolutions but usually, they tend to be too aggressive which can lead to dropping them by the third week of January or worse, guilting yourself about not achieving that abrupt 180-degree lifestyle turn instantaneously.
I am super guilty of this.
I tend to try and throw myself into resolutions full force. I’ll drop tons of money and invest a lot of time into trying to force something that may or may not work. This year I was determined to break that cycle but I almost fell into it again.
Story time.
Monday, I was looking at my vitamins and decided that I needed a change. I looked at Care/Of and went through there little quiz and almost dropped $90/month on supplements thinking “Oh! This will for sure make me feel better and more balanced! It’s just a vitamin issue!”
(It is really the whole eating like crap and not working out for a month that’s the issue…)
So, I talked myself down from the vitamins and then saw an Instagram post about matcha and collagen peptides.
“Oh!” I thought, “Collagen peptides and matcha will solve all my problems! Let’s go blow $100 on this right now!”
Thankfully, after research, I forced myself to take a step back because I was worried that the collagen peptides might hurt my stomach like whey protein does, so I waited for advice before I made the decision.
And this, vitamins and matcha, all happened in the course of like…12 hours…
So, recognizing that I was trying to add more things to solve problems that I had created by not eating well and not working out, I decided to take a step back.
I turned to my bullet journal and found some goal layouts that I liked and created a 12 month, two-page spread of small, measurable goals that would help me achieve my larger concrete goals without dumping a ton of money and time into something that may or may not work.
You can see the box above.
For example, January’s box has these 7 goals in it.
Cook 8 meals (from a recipe)
Read 30 minutes (a day)
Track food
Do one Facebook Live (for work)
Try Collagen Peptides
Try Matcha and Cashew Milk
Get back to morning workouts
Let’s focus specifically on the matcha and collagen peptides.
I was super tempted to just go all out and buy the $50 large jar of collagen peptides and order a $30 bag of matcha on Amazon and upgrade it to one day shipping. And I almost did both of those things.
Instead, I refocused and altered my plan.
I had a plan to go to Heinen’s after work yesterday to get salmon so I could cook a meal (from a recipe) for Nate and I. Knowing that they are a health food-filled store, I simply added matcha and collagen peptides to my grocery list.
Conveniently, Heinen’s Instacart service allowed me to see that they sell a 20-ct box of the exact collagen peptides brand I wanted ($2.29) and loose matcha tea ($7.99).
I bought cashew milk ($5.99) on Wednesday when I went to Dave’s and tried it so I knew if I liked it or not. I do and it’s delicious. I made myself a latte with it yesterday morning. And I bought a little matcha whisk ($10 on Amazon with a $2 next day delivery charge).
This refocusing on trying to not just throw myself into something random without knowing if it would or would not work allowed me to not stress about the experiment AND took my grand total for the matcha latte with collagen peptides down from about $140 to $28.27. (That’s a $111.73 savings for those of you keeping track at home.)
What I am trying to illustrate by telling you about this matcha and peptide madness is that if you have goals you want to achieve and think that something might help you achieve them, you don’t have to go all in the second you think it’s a good idea. Take your time. Do your research. See if there is a good way to try before you buy.
A little trial makes sure that you aren’t wasting your time and money on something that may or may not end up at the back of your cabinet. (Looking at you unflavored whey protein that I bought last year).
Just repeat to yourself: small, measurable, manageable.
That’s the key to achieving your resolutions.
Also, will report back on matcha/collagen peptide latte. I have high hopes.