Don’t try to catch up

I’m behind. It’s a constant condition. I’ve learned to let it go.

What I use to do was try to catch up until I realized that my goal isn’t really the goal. For example, one of my goals for this month is to get down to 150lbs. I’m at a 156. I’ve been floating in the 157-158 lb range since the beginning of the month. I’ve lost all my junk food weight. I stopped eating junk food and my weight is adjusting to not having all those extra dead calories which was up to 800 calories a day in junk food (soda, salty and sugary vending machine snacks, etc). What I haven’t been doing much of is exercising. I started well last month, but this month I’ve let my exercise slip in favor of working on professional goals. w

Not so long ago, I would have just transferred all my energy from my professional goals to my personal goals. That would mean going on a heavy exercise kick to lose the 6 lbs to complete my goal. The problem is that for an INFP like me, reaching a goal doesn’t really pay off in the long run because we tend to backtrack. I’d lose the 6 lbs, then stop what I was doing, gain 3 back, feel bad about it and then I’d let my physical/health goals slide. I’d start eating a little unhealthier because I’d think what’s the point or I’d do it as reward for all the effort of losing the 6 lbs.

This happens in all areas when I try to “catch up” to one my goals. The real goal is consistency of action because that consistency lasts longer. So this week, my goal is to ease back into regular exercise again. It’s not about going full out. It’s about figuring a way to work that time into my life.

As an INFP, I accomplish in spurts which is great because I get a lot done in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, that effort draws too much energy away from other areas and those other areas suffer. What I’m trying to do now is find some way to do personal development interval training. In cycling, interval training involves maintaining 20mph (or whatever your ideal pace is) and every 30 minutes you sprint for a minute or two and then ease back down to 20mph.

In daily life, I’m trying to find my ideal pace of my life where I can get everything done which means spending less time in each area so no areas get neglected even though I won’t be progressing in some areas as fast as I like. After that, I want to do intervals where I’ll work really hard on something for a day, then go back to normal pace for the next two days. Then I’ll pick another area to focus on.

I’ll let you know if that works because for my personality type, I think it’s really my best shot at not being obsessive about one thing while everything else falls apart. At the same time, it fits my need to short gain accomplishments.

Daily Actions Towards My Goals

Prompt replies – Answered two emails promptly since they were blog related. Doing this helps me because it keeps me focused on the fact that my INFP blog is not about me. It helps me build my community of INFPs which is the my real goal for the site.

Doing Small Things

Apologize to my daughter for yelling at her – I needed her to clean her room yesterday and she was balking. I was frustrated because I had housecleaning to get done and I felt I was wasting my time telling her to clean her room instead of getting my cleaning done. I lost my temper. Doing this helps me because I need to teach her that being right isn’t as good being effective. The real object wasn’t to get her to clean her room. The real goal was to make her want to clean her room. I got a clean room and damaged a relationship in the process. Being right isn’t always the right thing.