You have heard it time and time again – “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” – this week was tough for me. It started out OK – but when Tuesday came, things started to fall apart.
I left Kenzie’s car seat in my back seat instead of leaving it at home, where my husband needed it to take her to Mother’s Day Out. My brain was in a fog on Tuesday and I completely forgot.
Wednesday I had a meeting with the tax professional at the office, and as where I thought I was great and had everything pretty much taken care of for our accounting – it was pointed out that there was still quite a lot of things for me to get done.
Thursday Kenzie was sick and the week started to quickly fall apart from there. I stayed home with her – could not get a work out completed because she needed her mom – and that is my #1 job – without question and with no complaints! For a kid who never clings to you – you know she is not feeling well when she just wants you to hold her all day long.
Friday – I was exhausted from all the cuddling (not really) but I was pretty tired from my independent little not feeling so independent for a whole day. So I decided to take an extra rest day instead of working out… but I had a plan that my weekend was going to have two really good workouts…
Saturday – I wake up get my coffee, drink a lot of water – start working on social media stuff, when my husband informs me that our first dog (14 year old epileptic mix of a golden retriever and lab – who is also blind and deaf) is not going to live much longer and he needs to take her to the vet and we need to say our goodbyes… Well, there goes my whole excitement for working out and the plans I had… instead, I coped by eating dark chocolate – and ugly crying while trying to work on the website to make it more user friendly. Later that night we went out on a date night/my BFF’s birthday and toasted to her and I finally felt at peace as we talked about her and the impact she left on our life… Yes I know some may not understand our love for a dog – but she was my husband’s first pet, our first dog together, she had been there before marriage, through 2 loss of pregnancies, several moves, and the birth of our baby girl… she has been a part of our lives since the beginning… so saying goodbye was hard.
We have ALL had weeks like this, have we not?
Which brings me to today – Sunday… the day to ‘rest’ – but I am taking this day to set myself up for a fantastic week! I am preparing for success by doing the following:
- Plan – take 5 -10 min and plan what you need to do for the week. This can include meals (make a grocery list of things you will need). Look at your calendar to see what appointments you have this week (family or work related). Assess any deadlines that you may have and what you need to do to make sure that you will be able to complete them or adjust them.
- Prep – make 2-3 meals (lunches and dinners) for the week to make sure that you have an idea of what you want to fix, or something you can pop in the oven while you are preparing for the next day or helping kids with homework.
- Extra Tip – Plan for the unexpected. Have an easy back-up plan if something goes haywire and you are suddenly not able to do as you had planned. Having a back-up saves you time and panic…
- Schedule specific times to be active and get moving. You are more likely to stick to your work out routine if you have some time scheduled ahead… If you have a very busy day – 15-20 min is a great amount of time to dedicate even in your busy schedule. Remember that your health is important.
- Get your Sleep! If you have a plan and have prepped before hand – you should be able to focus on getting to bed at a descent hour and get some good sleep. Sleep is when your body recovers! It is vital to our health. Make it a goal to get 8 hours of sleep!
- Share your plans with others. If you are part of a group who keeps you accountable – let them know you had a tough week – but let them know you are planning a successful week and what you are planning to do so that they can encourage you!
I ma have had a crummy end to my week last week – but that is not going to stop me from tying my laces putting on some music and getting work done this week!
I would love to know what steps you are taking to get yourself ready for a successful week!