Goals hold no power if they exist as words only. You can make goals but they do not mean a thing if you do not actively try to meet them. (Yes, I resisted the temptation to add “if it ain’t got that swing.”) I have talked a lot about my goals for the year and my struggles with motivation. I have to admit that I have neglected many of my goals; it’s time to be held accountable.

I discussed two weeks ago the need to adjust some goals. I stand by that adjustment. The trouble comes with evaluation of whether I have even met the adjusted goals or the rest of the goals I left as I established three months ago. Upon evaluation, I realized that I have allowed being busy to become an excuse. Some things will have to give during certain seasons, like the week before last when school and life obligations piled into every evening of the week. At the same time, that particular week stood out, thankfully, as an aberration. The lax follow through, however, started long before the busy week.

In this post, I will hold myself accountable for all the goals I have failed to meet not because of obligations outside of my control but rather because I completely forgot or gave myself far too many excuses. I will first state the facts about whether or not I met the goals, most of which I did not meet. Then I will postulate hypotheses as to why I did not meet them before finally making a game plan as to how I will continue to hold myself accountable in the effort to meet the goals without excuses during the remaining nine months of the year.

I have had a few successes with my goals. Fitting in reading has not been a problem. According to my Goodreads challenge meter, I am six books ahead of goal pace. I have also had success, unexpectedly, in my daily journaling goal by writing an entry every day even if an evening event prevents more writing than a sentence or two. Thirdly, and finally, my savings rate remains above 40% although this had required the least work.

Now for the goals I have struggled with the most. When it comes to drinking two full bottles of water, I have failed completely and fallen back into the old habit I wish to break. My water consumption patterns are no different now than when the year started although I think about it more frequently, usually substituting coffee or diet Dr. Pepper for water. My goal to eliminate excess sugar has had similar results. I followed my plan for a few weeks but then allowed sugar back in at all the usual places. Thus, I have not eliminated anything. As far as fitness goes, my struggles with morning motivation and seeming inability to get out of bed right away (another failed goal) play right into missing one, sometimes two days of workouts in the morning since that time with rare exception is my only window of opportunity to work out. I always remember after the fact that I want more. I also have allowed being busy to serve as an excuse for not getting in my hip and glute strengthening exercises. I can tell that this has already started to affect my stride. For the past few weeks, I squeezed in one day, easily postponing the reminder on my todoist app. I suppose that I have been able to leave by five on those days without meetings; it’s hard to tell with all the meetings piled onto my schedule lately. Staying out of the drama, however, has proven much more difficult because as much as I know how those conversations bring in toxicity to my life, the call to be included tugs at my heart. FInally, I have not been successful carving out a minimum of twenty minutes for daily writing, although the misses number far less than before.

Now to the analysis of the cause. For some, schedule conflicts and work obligations have prevented “perfect” completion, namely the leaving work goal and the time for daily writing goal. FOr others, sheer forgetfulness proves to be the stumbling block, namely the water bottle goal. For all the others, excuse-making stands as the culprit. I had a hard day so I will eat ice cream for supper instead of real food. I deserve chill and decompress time so the hip and glute exercises will have to happen later. My bed feels comfy and sleep is always good so I will skip stationary bike today.

How can I change this? On my own, I cannot. God has made that abundantly clear to me in recent days. I write this last portion of the post in the knowledge that I can do any of this through His strength. So with that mindset, I ask Him to help me banish excuses. As far as the actions to get me to the goal lines for the others, I think I will start charting of sorts. I recently started handwriting reflections for each day of teaching. While I have done this for only a week or so, I have seen tremendous results. For some, like the water goal, I will add an item on my todoist app. I might add a reflection item on the app to remember to reflect and write a little about each morning, how I felt, and the other goals I have. Instead of feeling down at the end of this entry, I feel encouraged and I have a plan. Here’s to the rest of the year!