Five Minute Goal

I recently made a goal to write every day, and I’ve already completely missed five days. A few of the other days I just grabbed my journal and spent a few minutes scribbling down whatever was on my mind.

A couple of years ago, I would have been upset with myself and gotten discouraged for missing days, and for writing imperfectly on other days.

I’m learning to give myself grace though and to celebrate and honor my own successes. I’ve written more than I would have without a goal. I’m learning to make writing a habit. I’m enjoying myself. With practice, it’s getting easier to write about what really matters.

It’s okay that I’m not perfectly meeting my goal. It’s alright that my handwriting doesn’t always look fantastic or that my grammar isn’t always correct. I’m doing my best, and it’s okay when my best isn’t perfect.

You know what? It’s okay that your best isn’t perfect either. Whatever thing in your life that you’re working on – did you do better at it last week than you did two weeks ago? If so, that’s awesome! Give yourself a pat on the back and keep working in that direction.

If you haven’t worked on your goal at all, choose to give yourself grace, but don’t stay in the place of not moving forward. Learn from your experience. Realize where you can improve and move on. Try to do a little better this week than you did last week.

If you want to improve at something (and I hope that all of us do!) start by carving out five minutes each day.

Whatever your goal is, just do it, and keep it simple. Want to eat healthier? Choose to eat an orange instead of a candy bar twice each day. If you want to exercise, do 25 crunches and 5 push-ups as soon as you wake up. If you want to write more, grab a journal and write a paragraph. If you want to keep a cleaner house, unload the dishwasher or put away a basket of laundry.

Maybe your goal isn’t to do more, but to do less. Go outside and smell a flower. Sit in silence for a few minutes. Cross something off your to-do list that doesn’t really need done. Think about how you can say no to good things so that you can say yes to the best.

Give yourself five minutes a day to do something that matters to you. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

That five minutes will make a difference!

Don’t think you have five minutes a day? Did you just make time to read this article? Did you check Facebook or your e-mail this morning? Then you have five minutes. And so do I.

Let’s keep moving forward.