Today, I failed. Perhaps that’s not the right word, but I’ll use it to illustrate a point. I have been trying to meditate daily while in Columbia and today I completely forgot. As I was going to bed I realized that my day was more frantic, disorganized and stressful than I’d like it to be. Instead of taking ten minutes in the morning to sit and control my mind, I rushed to our workspace, dove right into my inbox and inevitably spent the rest of the day treading water. In the past, I would let something like this eat at me. It would affect my ability to enjoy things and stay positive. I have a fascination with building new habits and a tendency to take things more seriously than needed. Over the past year or two, and especially over the nine months I have been traveling full time, I have forced myself to focus on quality and consistency over the long run. By doing this, I am able to keep my eyes on the big picture and not stress over the day-to-day.

As we are coming up on the end of the year, people will be reflecting on the past twelve months and what went well and didn’t go well. They think about how they can better themselves for the coming year. This typically leads to grand, vague, unrealistic “goals" they’d like to achieve. Rare is the resolution that is specific, actionable and achievable. I have been guilty of this many times. Examples from my own past include “blog more,” “launch a new business,” or “maintain relationships while traveling.” Each of these achieved mixed results at best, which in hindsight should have been expected. Better versions of the same goals might look like “spend 30 minutes per day at least 3 days per week working on blog posts,” “launch alpha website and onboard 10 customers by December 31st” or “call at least one friend and one colleague from the US each week.” These are measurable - they either happened or they didn't. They are framed within a specific time limit or window. They are clear.

In some cases, such as launching a new business, the goal would need to be further broken down into subtasks. This is where I tend to struggle most. I am good at setting big picture goals and excellent at day-to-day productivity. I fall short in translating BHAGs into tangible components with specific actions which, if completed, will result in the goal being achieved. Over the past three months, I have used a Best Self journal, which is designed to break your goals into thirteen week action plans and facilitate daily progress tracking against them (along with habit-building, gratitude logging and capturing wins and opportunities for improvement). While I prefer the Bullet Journal method for maintaining written notes, I did learn some valuable things, such as mapping my daily to-do list to my calendar. I’ve found that if I schedule the time to work on something, I am much more likely to get it done.

As mentioned above, a key component of habit-building is a way to track and reflect on whether or not you are making progress. Some people (including me) prefer pen and paper and thus a journal works for them. There are many tools for tech-minded people (also me) who like the fluidity of a dedicated productivity app that works across all their devices. Ultimately, the mechanism is less important than consistently using whatever you choose. If you have trouble sticking to a plan, find a group of friends and hold each other accountable. If you’ve tried that to no avail, use the popular trick of giving a painfully large check to a friend and instructing them to send it to a charity or organization that is the antithesis of everything you believe if you don’t meet your goal. Having something on the hook, especially if it's financial, is often enough to bring out the best in us.

Lastly, as I alluded to at the beginning of this post, don’t beat yourself up if you miss a deadline, a workout, a healthy meal. Play the long game. Pick yourself up and dust yourself off and get it right tomorrow. Make no excuses and hold yourself accountable. The only person who can make it happen is you.