Zen Habits March Challenge, Step 3: Evaluate your progress

Every Monday is Weekly Review on Zen Habits.

Five days ago, I challenged my readers to join me in setting and achieving a single goal in the Zen Habits March Challenge. Step 1 of this Challenge was to create a plan, and Step 2 was to report your progress.

OK, we're a week into the March Challenge, and this is a good time to step back and look at how we're doing. If you're not doing the March Challenge, these steps are still a good way to see, hands on, how to go about setting and achieving goals.

Reflect on your week
If you've been tracking your progress some way, either through commenting on Zen Habits, a journal, a chart, a log, or an online service, you've got a great way to look back on the last week. If not, you can still reflect on what you've done throughout the week and think about whether you're doing as well as you planned.

How are you doing? Have you met your goals for the week? If so, celebrate! If not, now is a good time to take some steps to put you back on track.

Re-evaluate your goals, and your obstacles
If you're not doing as well as you'd hoped, there are several steps you can take:

1. Adjust your goals. This is my recommended solution. It may be that you bit off too much, too soon. When starting a goal program, I highly recommend you start small. Take baby steps. Go for something you know you can achieve. That way, you'll definitely make it, and feel great, and then you can move on to higher elevations. It may seem cheap to shoot for something too easy. Take my word for it -- sticking with something for more than a week feels great, even if it seems easy.
2. Evaluate your obstacles, and make a plan. Why didn't you reach your goals for the week? What stood in your way? It's dangerous to ignore this reason. Did you not feel motivated? Not have enough time? Did something pop up at the last moment that made you reschedule? Whatever the reason, it's best to plan for what you'll do if that reason repeats.
3. Re-focus. Perhaps you just lost focus. You need to re-commit yourself, tell the whole world about it, and find a way to maintain that focus daily. Put up a poster, or print your goal out in large letters. Put up your goal plan for everyone to see. Maintaining your focus is the No. 1 thing you can do to stay with your goals over time.
4. Step up the motivation. Perhaps you didn't feel too motivated. Go back to the Top 20 Motivation Hacks, and see if there are others you can use. The more motivation tricks you use in concert with each other, the better.

You can do this! Whatever you do, stay positive and stay focused. Do not let a little slip in your progress get you down. Creating new habits is a skill, and it takes practice. You won't get it on the first try. If you have any doubts, any thoughts in your head that say you can't do it, SQUASH THEM NOW! And replace them with positive thoughts. That's the best thing you can do to get back on track.

Zen Habits March Challenge, Step 2: Report Your Progress

Five days ago, I challenged my readers to join me in setting and achieving a single goal in the Zen Habits March Challenge, and Step 1 of this Challenge was to create a plan.

Step 2 is to report your progress, if not daily then at least weekly. It's best if you record your progress in a log, journal or online goals tracker, as this serves both to keep a record of what you've done and to motivate you.

So, in the comments, feel free to report what you've done with your goal or habit so far, and feel free to post daily or at least weekly. Share your successes and failures with the world!

I'll get the ball rolling: my goal is to exercise five days a week (swim, bike and run training). I live on Guam, so Saturday has just passed for me, and I still have a bike ride to do tomorrow (Sunday), but here's what I've done so far:

• Tuesday: ran 3 miles
• Wednesday: swam 1,150 yards
• Thursday: ran 3 miles
• Saturday: ran 3 miles

When I complete my bike ride tomorrow morning, I'll get a weekend treat!

Now post your progress in the comments!

Zen Habits March Challenge, Step 1: Create a Plan

If you've signed up for the Zen Habits March Challenge, you've already made the most important step: a public commitment. I'm excited about the Challenge, if you can't tell!

Now let's get started. The first thing we need to do is make a plan. If we can't take the time to make a plan, we are not fully committed, and it won't work. So the first step of the Challenge will be to create a plan that will state our goal, strategize, motivate and overcome obstacles. Then we'll print out the plan and post it up somewhere visible -- preferably at home and work.

Here are the most basic elements of the plan (the easy version):

1. State your goal. This needs to be something attainable (not too hard for this month!), measurable (number of days, number of minutes, number of dollars, etc.) and with a deadline - March 31.
2. Motivation. Take a look at the Top 20 Motivation Hacks, and pick a few. The more the better. Examples: posting your progress every day (or at least weekly) on Zen Habits, emailing friends and family about your progress, keeping a journal, charting your progress with an Excel spreadsheet, joining an online forum, making a promised to your spouse or loved one, rewarding yourself, etc. Write down your motivations.
3. Rewards. Set rewards for reaching mini-goals each week. Break each goal into weekly goals, with rewards for each. You might want to add mini-goals and rewards for the first few days, just to encourage you to get started. See this list for some simple rewards.

If you've got another 5 minutes, add these items for the Super Goals version (and for increased likelihood of success):

1. Obstacles. What are your greatest obstacles to achieving your goal? Now come up with a plan to deal with those obstacles, before they occur. If you get lazy after work, how will you deal with that? Examples could be: working out in the morning, having a workout partner and making an appointment with him/her, getting a coach or trainer, or try to just get started.
   
2. Monitor and zap your quitting urges. We all have urges to quit our goal. This is similar to the Obstacles step above, but it's very important to monitor our urges to stop. We might get lazy and say, I'll do it tomorrow. Well, that's an urge. Tally it on a small notebook every time you get an urge. And plan for dealing with the urges beforehand. Examples: take three deep breaths, and get a glass of water. Visualize success. Just get started. Email zenhabits (at) gmail (dot) com if you feel like stopping (we can help each other out). Get your workout partner or spouse or best friend to help you through the urge. Trust me: the urges go away if you have a plan to get through them. They only last for a few minutes. Once you get through them, you'll be glad you did.

OK, so to set a good example, here's my plan:

1. Goal: Train for triathlon five days a week (with two rest days) through the end of March. Training will include swimming, running and biking, at any distance or length of time (minimum 20 minutes).
2. Motivation: Joining this Challenge! I will also post my progress at least weekly, and am writing a bi-weekly series of columns for my local newspaper detailing my progress. Other motivations include rewards, keeping a journal, posting up my goals along with a picture of my goal, telling family and friends about it, and having a workout partner (swim and bike).
3. Rewards: First three days, I will reward myself with a sweet treat. Each week, if I attain my goal, I get a weekend treat! At the end of the month, I get to buy a book I've been wanting.
4. Obstacles: Being tired is my main obstacle. Therefore, I plan to get more rest, and start out slow this month. I'm not in a hurry to get better, and if I stick with it, I will naturally get better. Later, once this is more of a habit, I can work on a more progressive schedule.
5. Quitting urges: I will keep a tally of my urges to not train in my journal, and every time I get an urge, this is what I will do: take 3 deep breaths, drink water, and just get started. If that doesn't work, I will call my wife for encouragement. I will get through my urges!

OK, now write down your plan and print it out and post it up! If you don't do this, you will regret it. You may post your plan in the comments if you like, but at the very least please just post that you've done your plan.

Here are the March Challengers so far. Iif you haven't signed up, go do it now! Or do it in the comments here. It's not too late -- you can sign up at any time.

• stayfly: Decorate and move into apartment I love. In terms of habits to help with this, I am aiming to do one major and one minor action toward decorating and moving into my apartment everyday of this month :)
• Chris Yeung: I'm going to wake up at 5am on the weekdays.
• Shaun: My goal is to run a mile 4 days a week for the rest of the month.
• kamal: Wake up by 8:30am.
• Monica: My goal for March is to read at least one new book every week.
• Ann M. Mione: My goal is 4 days a week of either hitting the gym (which I usually enjoy once I get myself there) or some pilates and free weights in my apartment.
• tedgotsoul: get back to practicing and composing music. two hours per day for practicing is where i should be. i will start on march 10th (when i get to the new state) and finish ... when i can play guitar better than jimi hendrix. just kidding... i'll keep playing beyond that "plateau"
• Samer: My March goal is to jog for one hour, five days a week, until the end of March, and hopefully cultivate this into a habit.
• holli jo: My goal is to exercise (probably walking, but any exercise will do) for at least 15 minutes, 5 days a week.
• John Wesley: My goal is to exercise at least 30 minutes 5 days a week. And to redesign my blog by the end of March.
• jen.: doug & i are in. each of us plans to write and complete a short story by the end of march. this morning we woke up earlier than usual and spent a half hour working on them. it felt great!
• sommer: my goal this month is to run 5 days a week. This means I must take my lunch hour and use it to run 30 minutes all 5 days, but i have the weekend for back up just in case I miss a day at work. It's going to be hard to get back into it, I've become used to ordering in with my co-workers over the holidays. I need to hold strong!!!
• RebeccaB: I'm jumping on the workout bandwagon! At least 3 times a week, i'm going to get up with him at 5 and work out in the apt Gym (because it's free!). As a more long term goal I need to find awesome peopele in my area to hang out with, living in 1 state for 22 years and then moving to another one where you don't know anyone is difficult. So I would love to make some meaningful friendships. So if you want to be my friend let me know, that would just make this goal a whole lot easier :)
• Jenn: I have an ongoing goal that I'm hoping to use smaller, monthly goals to augment. My ongoing goal is to read and make notes on at least three items a week from the list of texts I need to to know for my upcoming doctoral comprehensive exam in June (and, thus far, I'm succeeding). In order to help myself out with this, my first month's goal is to exercise for half and hour to an hour, four times a week. I feel and think better when I'm active, which I imagine will only help me to get comps reading done better than I do now, and will also prevent me from turning into an academic slug.

Let's get going fellow Challengers!!!!

A Challenge: Goals for March

Every Monday is Weekly Review on Zen Habits.

We're a few days into March, and I'm reviewing my goals for the year. One thing I'm learning this year is that I took on too much at once. I'm closely examining my goals for this year and thinking that I want to focus on one at a time (more in line with my 12 Habits).

So, for this month, I'm going to be more focused, and I invite all of you to join me in a friendly challenge: set one goal for yourself this month, and we will support each other, motivate each other, track our goals and review them every Monday, and help each other achieve that goal.

So, if you'd like to join me in this March Challenge, in the comments, please list your goal or habit for this month. Some tips (as always):

• Set something achievable. Don't try to run a marathon if you've never run before. Try to get in the habit of exercising three times a week instead. Work on one small habit, and you will get to your goal eventually (the Zen Habits philosophy).
• Make it measurable. Want to save money? Great! How much do you plan to save per week or paycheck. Want to run? Great! Set a goal of days per week, minutes per week, or miles per week. Want to wake up early? Set a goal of a certain number of days per week, at a certain time. If it's measurable, you can track it over time and see if you're successful.
  
• Set a deadline. It's important to attach a timeline to your goal. Our timeline for the March Challenge will be one month -- although you can certainly continue your goal beyond that, set a mini-goal to be achieved by the end of March -- a certain number of days for a habit by March 31, for example.

My goal for the March Challenge will be to get back on track with my triathlon training (I was sidetracked due to illness and a death in the family). More specifically, here's my goal for March: train five days a week (two rest days) each week until the end of March. The five days should include two swims, two bikes and two runs, but at the very least I should be doing one thing on each of the five days.

I need to get back in the habit of exercise. I actually started to get back into it last week, but I really want to focus on this goal this month. That means that I will postpone two other things I was planning this month: my 5th habit of patience (I'll have to be patient about that goal!) and another challenge of trying to cut out sweets (except for a cheat day). I will save those for later months this year -- a lesson that I've learned is that it's important to evaluate and adjust your goals as you go along.

So, join me! What's your March Challenge goal?

Tomorrow, we will work on a plan to meet our March Challenge goals!