If at first you don't succeed...

So if you read my last blog post then you know all about my challenge for the month of August. (If not, you should read it to gain some context.)

Okay, so I’m a few days into the challenge and I already have some reflections that I’d like to share.

Storytime...

On Day 2 I went to bed at about 9:30pm and woke up around 4am and could not go back to sleep. I laid in the bed for about an hour trying to go back to sleep and of course it wasn’t until 5:15 that I started to doze off. Before I got into a deep sleep, I had a decision to make:

1. Get a few more minutes of sleep and risk falling back to sleep for hours, which would mess up my one day streak of getting up before 5:45am, or

2. Just get up now, and make good use of the time.

So I made the decision to get up around 5:20am. I did my morning devotion, scrolled on Instagram and Facebook for a little bit and then decided it was time to make moves. At this point it was about 5:45am and I contemplated what else I could do in that extra time I had that morning. Again, I had 2 options:

1. Get dressed and go to work early, or

2. Make some breakfast

Of course I chose to cook breakfast. I never get to cook breakfast on weekday mornings because I’m always rushing, so I decided to whip up some pancakes and bacon since I had time. The only issue was that I had a sink full of dishes lol. If you know me you know how much I STRONGLY DISLIKE washing dishes. So much to the point that it almost deterred me from making breakfast (don’t judge me lol). But I already had my mind set and could literally taste the pancakes and bacon in my mouth already, so I went ahead and washed the dishes I needed and loaded the dishwasher with the dishes I didn’t feel like washing.

Okay, it was finally time to cook breakfast. It took about 20 minutes (including the time to clean up and load the used dishes in the sink). I was about to sit down to eat when I looked at the clock at it was 6:55!!! Where on earth had the time gone?! I was supposed to be at work before 8:00am and at 6:55 I hadn’t showered, brushed my teeth, washed my face, nor had I eaten the wonderful breakfast that I just made for myself.

So obviously, the plans changed. I packed my breakfast to go so I could eat it at work and hopped in the shower and rushed to get dressed in like 30 minutes. It takes approximately 30 minutes to get to work so I was hoping I could still achieve my goal of getting to work by 8:00am.

Fail.

I walked into work at 8:06, frustrated, frazzled, HUNGRY, and really disappointed in myself. How on Earth did I wake up at 4am and still be late to work?! On DAY 2 of my challenge? Smh.

Well, as I was eating my breakfast, at work, I had a little time to reflect and evaluate what went wrong. Here are my observations:

1. I didn’t have a plan or routine for my morning. I was making decisions on a whim not really understanding how unrealistic I was about the “extra time” I thought I had. I needed make sure I completed all the important tasks first, before doing anything extra. It would’ve helped if I written down my plan, before executing. Moving forward I will make sure that I will set aside time to plan my day before I get out of bed, rather than waiting until I get to work.

2. I underestimated how much time it would take me to cook breakfast, get dressed, and get to work. I didn’t factor in the time it would take for me to wash dishes, to clean up, to pack my food up, and then the amount of time it actually takes for me to walk to my car from my apartment and then walk to my office once I get to work. I also underestimated how traffic could set me back. Moving forward I will include the time stamps for time-sensitive tasks to ensure I’m planning realistically and actually stay on task.

3. I was measuring the wrong thing. I was tracking an outcome metric and not a process metric. The outcome measure (Arrival time to work) is a lagging indicator, meaning it gives you results after something is complete. It only allows you to look back into the past, and makes it difficult to make the changes until after the thing you’re tracking has already happened. A process measure on the other hand is a leading indicator. It helps you to influence the future to get a favorable outcome. I’ve evaluated that it takes a maximum of about 35-40 minutes to get to work from the moment I walk out of my door. If I l’m out the house by 7:25 at the absolute latest I will be able to get to work, without rushing, and be sitting at my desk before 8:00am every day. Moving forward I will aim to leave to house by 7:20am to give myself some wiggle room (just in case I forget something or I’m having a slow morning).

Hopefully these adjustments to my plan, will help to yield more successful results. I’m learning that we can make as many plans as we want, and they may be really solid plans, but no plan is concrete. It’s not until you start working on something that you truly learn what works and what doesn’t work. It may be then that you discover, an even better way to do something. We shouldn’t let failure stop us from getting to where you want to be. Instead, that failed attempt to evaluate what needs to change and make the necessary adjustments! Trying is unlimited. In the words of Aaliyah: 

“If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.”

New Month, New Me: August 2018 Challenge

2018 has been THE BUSIEST year of my entire life. No exaggeration. From girls trips to weddings to destination birthday parties to bridal showers and bachelorette parties, family reunions and concerts, I’ve literally done it all and it’s only August. I still have so much more to do! More weddings, more bridal showers and bachelorette parties, more concerts and even a few football games. So far this year I've been to Denver, LA, Greensboro, Nashville, and Cancun, and I've gone back and forth to Chicago so much it feels like I still live there. I still have 4 more trips scheduled this year for Orlando, Las Vegas, Tuscaloosa, and San Francisco but if it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not. I’m so grateful for this life. I’m so grateful to be able to travel so much, celebrate with my friends, and spend so much time with family even though I live 4.5 hours away. I’m just exhausted! I’ve been going, going, going so much that I haven’t had the opportunity to take time for myself. So now that Summer '18 is winding down and I get at least two weekends out of the month to be in town, I want to spend some time working on getting my life together.

One of the ways I plan to do that is by going back to doing my monthly challenges. If you’ve read my first blog post, you know that every year I choose a Word of the Year to provide clarity and purpose for what I want to achieve that year. Well a few years ago, I was introduced to a planner that would help me take that one step farther. In addition to the Yearly Theme, there’s an opportunity to complete monthly challenges to focus on a habit that you'd like to create or break. I love this method, because this is what Kaizen is about: making small, gradual improvements over time to achieve lasting change. 

For the month of August, my goal is to Increase My Productivity. I’ve realized that the last few months I’ve been all over the place (literally and figuratively), getting a lot done, but not efficiently or effectively. I’m always late for everything, I frequently forget things, and I’m never really focused, and it’s because I haven’t done a good job of planning.

So, my plan of action is to focus on 3 simple things:

1. Waking up by 5:45am every weekday morning (Originally by goal was 5:30am, but I wanted to be realistic and allow time to snooze my alarm at least once lol)

2. Getting to work by 8:00 am (at the absolute latest)

3. Making sure to open my planner every single day

I chose these 3 things because I've identified them as actionable countermeasures to the reasons why I’ve had such low levels of productivity lately. (I did a 5 Why analysis to determine the root causes. More about that in a later post.)

I will be tracking my progress daily using my planner and process control boards that I’ve created. There are a few other tools and apps that I plan to use to help with times when I’m easily distracted or when I have some extra free time.

I’ve also chosen a few books to read, some podcasts to listen to, and some TedTalks and YouTube videos to watch, in order to keep myself motivated and also learn new methods and habits to increase my productivity.

It may seem like I’m doing the most, but I’ve gotten the most successful results by creating a plan, establishing a solid system to track my progress, and fully immersing myself in knowledge to truly learn, grow, and sustain.

"Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it."

- H. James Harrington

 

I'm excited about making positive progress this month! Feel free to join me on this challenge to become more productive! I'll be sharing more tips and tools throughout the month.