Push Yourself for One Week

April 1, 2009 No Comments

Have some goals that seem a bit unrealistic? For instance, are you a couch potato looking to start getting way more active?

Here’s a little something you can try to help you get more motivation to reach your goals.

Try out the end result of your goal for one week

Examples:

Want to become a daily runner? Try it out every day for a week. Push yourself. (If you haven’t run before, avoid this as you can get sick.)
Want to get into knitting? Commit to one hour of knitting every day for one week, with an end goal. Try to make a full scarf in that time. It can be done.
Overweight? Commit to a daily calorie limit or a specific meal plan for one week.
Want to quit smoking? Do it for just a week and see how you like it. That’s all you’re committing to. You can always continue smoking after the 7 days (although I hope you don’t.)

When you know you’re only doing this for a limited time, it takes some of the pressure off. You’re less likely to say ‘I can’t do this’ when you only have a few days left.

What you can learn from pushing yourself

There are several outcomes from pushing yourself like this for one week. The best outcome is that you’ll realize your goal wasn’t hard at all, and you’ll keep at it indefinitely.

Even if it doesn’t work out that well, you’ll get something out of the experience. Perhaps you’ll realize that your list of goals needs a bit of tweaking, or maybe you’ll come out of it improved. For the bad eater, this may mean having a new found appreciation for broccoli. Who knows?

The week-long challenge should be thought of as fun. Who can’t do something for a week? It’s not too hard. You’re strong enough. Perhaps you’ll really prove yourself, and become a better person for it.

My own week-long challenge

I’m not exempt from these sorts of challenges. In fact, I’m doing my own right now.

I’m self-employed. Normally I work part-time hours. Some days I won’t feel like doing anything, so I don’t. Some days I work very hard.

I got to thinking about how much differently things would be if I were a workaholic, so I’m acting like one for a week. Heck, I may even work on the weekend, which is completely unlike me.

What will I get out of it? Lots of things. We’ll see at the end of it.

Now it’s your turn

Think of something you’d like to be doing. This could be anything. Maybe you’re unemployed and would like a new job. Make a plan to apply vigorously for any and every job you come by this week.

Whatever it is, get out there and do it. You’ll never know what’ll happen unless you try.

Photo by The Joy of the Mundane.