I am not a reasonable person.

In the end I only had 750 ready to go and I finished those in… 18 days. Which is an average of 42 per day.

So while that goal is check done! I have several others which I still need to work on. But I’ve also just cut about 75 more fabrics which I’m adding on to this goal.

Which is fine, goals are meant to adjust and adapt as we go.

Second, I order online the night before if I can. I pick out what I need from major retailers like Home Depot and let someone else maneuver the crowds. Then I just need to drop in. Or, like Petsmart for the special dog shampoo, walk in, go to the shelf and walk out with my order. 2 minutes tops!

For the stores where I can’t have someone shop for me, I try to make a detailed list so I can avoid wandering around looking at everything. I generally know what I need so I am in and out quickly.

Finally, hydration. If I’m thirsty then I’m going to be cranky so I bring water and will usually pick up a coffee or tea while I’m out. This gives me some extra energy so I’m not tired and drowsy on the drive home.

I have picked up some of the supplies I need for my goals this sprint and working my way towards making deliberate progress on each and every one.

This is just an example of how to examine goals vs achievements when feeling stuck. It’ll look different for everyone and every goal.

Of course, it’s hot. It’s July in Kansas. So I looked back at my tracking for 2023 and 2024 and both years were dismal. Granted, 2023 was the worst summer ever when I lost my primary client, both my dogs, got COVID and a flesh eating bacteria all in 3 months time. Last July I logged a whole 66 miles and only biked 12 day of the month.

So I could definitely chalk this slump up to the regular summer slowdown and how hard I find it to acclimate to weather shifts. I could continue to only get on my bike when I feel like it.

Let’s question that assumption. If I only did things when I felt like it I would never have clean dishes, or clothes, or mopped floors. There are thousands of actions and small decisions that I make every week not out of some inherent love but because I like the outcome or have to do things. See: paying my auto insurance for the next 6 months.

Exercise isn’t one of those things I’m forced to do, nor do I only do when I feel like it. When I get on the bike or go for a long walk, I feel better, I sleep better and I reach my goals.

Plus, I have ways to beat the heat, including pointing 2 tower fans at the bike so I get some cross wind and drink lots of water.

The hardest part of exercising is starting so on Sunday I got up from my comfortable armchair and sat on the bike. Then I did 10 miles. In fact, I did more miles in 3 days than in the first 12 days of the month.

So if part of the answer is just to start, how can I make that more automatic. Here are 3 things I’m going to test out:

1. Get in 3 miles before noon – This is about 20 minute of warm up cycling for me so I should be able to find 20 minutes between whenever I get out of bed and noon. Then, I may be more likely to get those miles up to 5 or 8 when I’m halfway there later in the day.
2. If I’m watching “tv” I’m on the bike – it’s way too easy to put on YouTube and get sucked into hours of idle watching, even if I’m hand sewing or playing a game on my phone at the same time. So if YouTube or Netflix is playing, I’m on the bike.
3. Aim for consistency in miles – too many times I’ll get to the bike late, do a few miles and then think “good enough” and go to bed. Now, I’m testing doing a minimum of 8 miles a day.

If I can continue this trend through the end of the month I can get a lot closer to my monthly goal of 200 miles every month.

Look at the math

One thing that can help me is to look at the goal I’m trying to reach and the time I’ve given myself.

This year I set the goal to ride 2025 miles in 12 months, which broken down per day is only 5.5 miles a day. However, I did travel some and there are always days where I need to rest. If I calculate how many days are left in the year–169– and the miles I have left to go (1231 mi), then I know I need to regularly do 7.5 miles to meet my goal. And if I know I’ll have a few days off each month I should just round that up to 8 miles.

July is a great time to check in on your goals because we still have 6 months of the year left to go. Looking at a goal for the first time in mid-November and realizing you’d have to quit your job and stop sleeping to finish by year end is just frustrating.

Consider looking at your 2025 goals this month to decide how you can tweak them, or yourself, to get back on track.

I also knew I would be out of town for 6+ hours at a work function with a borrowed car, because mine is in the shop and the likelihood of getting all my tasks done was low. So I remembered that the whole goal of these daily habits is to become more consistent over time.

Here’s how I’m doing a week in:

Personal self-care:

1. Floss – doing well on this, powered by a dentist appt this month!
2. Double cleanse face – about half and half, I wash but don’t always double cleanse
3. Take vitamins – 100%
4. Use lotion – better than 50%, while this is more important in winter, it’s needed after the pool or a very hot day

Personal space care:

1. Do all dishes – not doing great on this one, I need to catch up and stay caught up!
2. Clean litter box – better than 50%, trying to stay on top of the upstairs boxes is the worst because ‘out of sight, out of mind’
3. One cleaning task – pretty good, I need to make my chart and hang it somewhere I can always see it so things get checked off.

Personal mental care:

1. No social media before 9am – almost 100%! Forgot one day when I was up early
2. Reach out to a friend – 100% and trying to reach out to older friends more often
3. Publish something – 100% so far!

Personal physical care:

1. 20 minute walk – about 50%, will probably get better the longer my car is in the shop
2. Average 5,000 daily steps – about 50%, will be more consistent if I do the walks!
3. In bed by 10pm – I’m good on this if I have work the next day so it’s about 50% due to the long weekend and later nights

Overall I continue to be challenged (because duh, if it were all habitual already this would not be needed) but I’m glad that I am working on each of these habits.

I also find myself to be doing tasks that used to be one my list (make the bed, journal, laundry) and then sorta annoyed I don’t get to check it off. Oh well, I suppose the benefit of the thing being done has to be enough.

The concept is really simple: once a calendar month I want to take everything out, wipe down the shelves and drawers and organize the food I have on hand. Sometimes this means throwing out food which has gone bad, but I’m getting much better at food waste these days.

As I put things back in the fridge or freezer, I do try to sort like things together and write down what I have on hand so I don’t pick up another thing of mustard since it’s on sale since I have a full one ready. I might add things I do need to get, like tortillas or green peppers.

(Especially since the pepper I picked up fell apart in my hand a few days ago.)

The reason I want to clean my fridge every month is a good one, it shows me what I have to eat, lets me save money on groceries or eating out and keeps the fridge from becoming a petri dish. The freezer is very similar, food tends to fall to the bottom and disappear and then 6 months later I have to play “what is this mystery thing?”

The reason it’s hard to do is also really easy to pinpoint. In order to make room for the food from the fridge, I need to clear off a section of countertop. I also need to finish all the dishes, dry and put them away so I have some room to wipe out bins and shelves in the sink. And, I have to do the whole task quickly without distractions or food begins to thaw and go bad on the counter. Then, when I’m done, I need to take out the trash so it doesn’t stink up the kitchen.

So while I hate this particular task, I am trying to be more consistent doing it because it’s always a little less horrible when it was just done 4 weeks ago and not 90 days ago.

Let’s see if I can get at least the fridge done today.

These are the in between projects, which I could do in a weekend and might take an hour or two over months.

Project 1 is to finish my half bath – this has been in progress this year and I want to see it done. In order to decide what “done” looks like I made a simple checklist:

• finish wall paint
• paint door
• buy beadboard, cut to fit, paint and install
• buy faucet
• build countertop for sink
• hire plumber to install sink
• patch open drywall
• install 2 shelves on walls

And that’s it! I know, it’s a lot of work to do and I don’t yet have the faucet or beadboard to get done. I may also need to buy some wood for the countertop.

Project 2 is to lay the new kitchen floor tiles, another home improvement project. To do so I’ll need to remove the old tiles, which may involve moving the stove and fridge out. I need to paint the side of the cabinet that butts up against the fridge and then lay the tiles in the room. When it’s done I will move the fridge back in and re-level it.

Not all of these projects are home based, project 3 is to read 18 books over 3 months. I am always buying new and interesting books and am trying to stay ahead by reading 50-60 every year. This might mean powering though some shorter novels or finishing the audio books in my queue but I want to have 6 books done per month so that’s 18 in 3 months.

A final goal I’ll share is project 4 meal plan 3x a week for the whole summer. To do this I started in my notes app with a line for each week of the next 3 months, Sunday to Saturday. I’m sorry for y’all who like Monday to Sunday calendars but no.

For each week I made a list underneath of 3 entrees I wanted to try to make, then added sides or desserts as I wanted. A sample week for 4th of July (this week’s menu) looks like this:

1. Butter chicken + rice + naan
2. Hamburgers + pasta salad
3. Hot dogs 
4. Deviled eggs 
5. Apple pie 

Since I already had hamburgers, hot dogs and buns, the only items I needed to buy were for pasta salad and the butter chicken. As you can tell, if I had a recipe in mind I linked it to the list so it’s easy peasy to find and get the ingredients.

Here my action steps are a little more flexible because I will need to make a list of ingredients every week and shop for everything I need. And… this is critical… if I don’t schedule time in my week to cook, it won’t happen. I like to batch cook so I don’t need to heat up the oven many times when it’s super hot outside.

For these types of goals it can be harder to gauge success without benchmarks or check-ins. It’s a very real possibility that the goal goes down on paper and then in 90 days… what goal? Oh I forgot!

While I haven’t shared every goal here yet, some are work related or personal, I do have them on a single sheet and hanging in my house where I can see them daily.

Another example is each month I want to complete a puzzle, but I’m not really fussed about which puzzle and when it gets done.

At the end of this 90 day sprint, I want to have 800 hexagons completed, which ties into my goal of riding the bike every day since I can baste and sew hexagons while I ride. Which ties into my monthly goal of completing a quilt top OR 2 smaller projects such as a pillow or table runner. Trust me, I have 4 or 5 quilts in the works and many more small projects.

I also want to meet my savings goal so I can stay on track by the end of the year to reach my overall goal. For me this means putting aside $500/month into my dedicated savings accounts. I’ve reached 60% of my goal so far in 2025 so this should be an easier goal to reach.

When it comes to these monthly goals, if I don’t have a connected daily goal, I need to be sure to add things to my calendar.

For example, I want to find a local quilt guild so a one time task is to attend a quilt guild once. This means doing some research on local groups, confirming meeting times and choosing one to attend. I’m also leaving it open so if I find a virtual meeting I’d like to attend, I’ll do that.  

Sometimes what we can do in a given timeframe is out of our control. Maybe you’re looking for a new job, wanting to fall in love, or dealing with contractors. Reaching your goal is very dependent on one or more other people taking action. So the way I deal with that is to make the goal what I can control, for example I want to book a particular medical appointment. Because I can’t predict their scheduling, I won’t make this task to have the appointment, but to schedule it. 

There’s one task on my list which I need to do as a “one time” task but it won’t mean I never need to do it again. That, for me, is fully backing up my new computer. I may even keep this on my list every quarter so it gets done often enough that if I have a computer failure, I don’t lose everything.

You might be able to tell that I have a lot of ideas and projects I want to do, there are potentially hundreds of things I could have added from the very easy (recycle metal in the yard) to the epic (reroof the house and paint the garage). So in order to keep my ideas organized, another one time task is to begin my Future Me list to capture these ideas for upcoming sprints.

If you have a one time task you need to tackle, I’d love to know in the comment, if you’re a scammer, please don’t bother. Remove all spam comments from blog is a one time task I don’t need to add in the future.

For me those 90 days will be July 1-Sept 30, which is technically 92 days so I’ll be skipping Labor Day and 4th of July. I have a lot of goals so let’s begin with my daily tasks because on July 1st I deleted all my Productive goals to do a nice reset.

While these are all technically personal goals here’s how to break them out…

Personal self-care:

1. Floss
2. Double cleanse face
3. Take vitamins
4. Use lotion

Personal space care:

1. Do all dishes
2. Clean litter box
3. One cleaning task

Personal mental care:

1. No social media before 9am
2. Reach out to a friend
3. Publish something

Personal physical care:

1. 20 minute walk
2. Average 5,000 daily steps
3. In bed by 10pm

Just a reminder that my goal is not to be perfect in all these goals all the time but to increase consistency over time. Some of these I’m rather good at, I regularly take my vitamins, floss and wash my face (though I want to return to double cleansing). I’m sort of middling at finishing all the dishes before bed, getting in all the steps and cleaning the litter box daily. New tasks include a daily cleaning job, no social media and a dedicated 20 minute walk.

Remind me later how silly it seemed to incorporate a walk in the height of summer out there.

I’m not here to help you get six pack abs or run a marathon, there are approximately 83 million of those videos on YouTube.

I’m also not going to promise or pretend that we can become different people in quarter of a year – real change is slow and often boring BUT is also more lasting than fads. 

So I’m going to begin documenting here what I’m doing for a personal challenge here for the next 90 days and I want to encourage you to play along. In a minute we’ll get into some guidelines but first, why am I doing this? I’ve spent the last 20ish years in self-development spaces – years ago that was blogs, then tele-seminars, webinars, podcasts, vlogs, social media channels, and too many courses for any one person. 

In that time I also built my own successful consulting business and worked behind the scenes of a LOT of creators and it was an eye-opening experience! 

If you’re interested in the stats, I’m currently 40 years old, I live and work in Kansas, I am single (and happy about it!) and have a dog and a couple cats. Life is good! I own a 100 year old home which I’m slowly renovating, I like to garden when the bugs are not eating me alive and I have a full time job which I enjoy most of the time.

And you might be thinking similarly, my life is pretty good, what needs to change? 

We all have areas which are not as good as we think they could be, bad habits we want to break or good habits we want to adopt. If you’d like to participate, now is a good time to pause and brainstorm what would be awesome to have in your life 90 days from now. Don’t filter yourself, just make the list and then keep reading to get to the next step. 

There are two ways you could go about the next 90 days: focus mode or widespread progress.

Here’s how I think of focus mode: my dad restores antique cars as a hobby and he has this friend who will pick up a project car and get obsessed about it. He’ll turn down invites to tours and meetings and vacation just to finish this car. All of his time and effort goes into that vehicle until it’s done. Then he’ll happy go to the tours in the car and really enjoy it. My dad, who is working on 4-6 cars at once thinks this is crazy. But it works for his friend! He doesn’t do anything else but that ONE project until it’s complete. 

If you look over your list and a bunch of the things make you go “eh, I guess” but one or two stand out as YES that’s the one, then focus mode may be best for you. 

The second option is widespread progress and this is for the person who looks at a list and wants to do ALL the things ALL at once. The idea of focusing on saving money while not decluttering or being more social while also not getting in more steps in is insane. If that’s you go for widespread progress.

For awhile now I’ve been doing widespread progress on a lot of goals and I begin with the App “Productive” – it’s free to download and allows you to set your own daily goals. I add 10-15 goals and every day I check off the ones I’ve done. Then every month I track how many goals I accomplished per day. 

Right now my current goals are: 

1. Walk 4,000 steps
2. Floss my teeth
3. Scoop the cat litter box
4. Make my bed
5. Do all the dishes before I go to bed
6. Journal
7. Publish online (blog, newsletter, video) 
8. Cleanse my face
9. Reach out to a friend
10. Use lotion
11. Get in bed by 10pm

If I notice that a goal is not as relevant or important to me, I’ll remove it. 

If a habit is so firmly set that it’s routine, I may remove it from Productive because I don’t need the reminder (this happened with meditation because I have a streak of 7+ years). 

Now, for some of you this might feel SUPER tedious and overwhelming so let me describe the focus mode.

In focus mode, you’re going to be like my dad’s friend on the car. You know what you want the end goal to be and work relentlessly toward that end without many distractions. Now, you’re not going to quit your job or ignore your kids for 3 months, but all your free time is going to be focused on this project. 

The benefit here is that there’s an end date, you’re not going to be revamping your closet *forever* nor would you spend eternity learning to knit. 

How you view success here is important, in widespread progress you want to see yourself doing more of the positive things or less of the negative things over time. If you’re in focus mode you want to be done or nearly done with a project OR have established the consistent habit at the end of 90 days. 

There’s no one way to do things so pick the method that works best for you and, if you choose more than 2 goals, you’re in widespread mode. Just go with it. 

So with all that said, what am I going to be doing over the next 90 days? Well, I’m clearing out my productive and setting some new goals. I’ve learned over time not to be precious about my streaks, and the midpoint of the year is a good time to note records and cleanse it all in favor of new habits. Next up I’ll share my new goals so come back to check that out soon.