Goals with Limits

In 2011 when I started this blog I used to do monthly posts for goals. For a few months anyway, I tried to catch the beginning of the month and have a list of specific goals to tackle that month.

I was always a smidge too ambitious, (sometimes way too ambitious - see this post from April 2011) but I can't really fault myself for being hopeful in the power of a fresh start.

I'd like to think I've gotten a little more realistic with age, but when I sit down to write goals I still seem to have a long impossible list before I know it.

So now goal writing has an extra step for me:
1. Write them down
2. Pick 2 for the time being and cross out the rest

Here's March:

I only stopped because I ran out of page, but as you can see I had 13 ideas for ways to improve my life that I would love to be able to implement right now. They range from reducing coffee to social activities to blog frequency to multiple study ideas. However, past experience has taught me that with too long a list, I get a bit "all or nothing," get discouraged and abandon them all. 

Therefore, I've chosen only two to focus on this month.

1. Water: I'm the absolute worst with hydration. There are days I drink only coffee in the morning and maybe a cup of water at some point in the evening. I operate in a constant state of dehydration. Part of it is the significant inconvenience of interrupting work to pee, but also I typically feel fine, so I don't think of it. On the off chance that I could feel significantly better hydrated, I thought I'd go for 64 oz. a day this month and see what happens. 

I'm using the app Waterlogged to track it. Above is yesterday, I only hit 41 oz, still better than before. I like that it gives goals by time of day to space it out. 

2. Talk/text with my parents and each of my sisters every week. If you go back to that 2011 post, that's been a goal of mine repeatedly, because it does make a difference in my perspective on my life.

In residency it's really easy to go to work, come home, see the same people every day, interact with no one but my patients, colleagues and John and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.

This month it's cheating a little bit, because I get to see all my sisters in real life. (Can't wait!)

Despite a food goal not making the cut, I have been eating some healthy meals. Here's a Coconut Dragon Bowl [recipe here - not my original] I made recently.

Happy March!