You can learn lessons even when your Quest to Be Better flatlines

Several months ago, I started on my Quest to Be Better. The purpose of the Quest is simple: to take incremental steps to improve the quality of my daily life and increase my happiness. The components include daily steps, water consumption, stretching, avoiding sugar, and other related items over time.

I intended to completely crush it and turn my energy, eating habits, and fitness habits around for the better. It stuck hard for a little over a month. Then the next month, I gave myself some slack and took a little too much slack. Then I totally stopped tracking my progress.

Even though my Quest to Be Better flatlined and I’ve regressed on the habits I was starting to build, I learned a few very valuable lessons in the process. And these lessons are inspiring me to pick up where I left off in the process and realize, yes I can do better, but I don’t need to be perfect.

1. We wake up with our personal gas tank filled at a different level every day. It’s important to pay attention to and be honest about your levels every day. Push yourself and try to do better each day, but with the realistic expectation that your “better” is going to look different from day to day. There’s a reason why the term is “PERSONAL best.”

2. There are ways that you can “fill up your gas tank” and build energy each day, such as walking, stretching, drinking water, staying away from sugar, and reminding yourself to be grateful. However, you are the only one who is qualified to determine how much to push yourself and “fill up your gas tank” each day. It’s great to get energy and encouragement from others and use that, but be aware of your “tipping point.”

3. Create a system so that you have guidelines for how you want your day to look. This framework provides an outline for effectively running your day without setting strict rules. I prefer to take the “systems approach” instead of the “goals approach” so I’m forced to focus on my actions and output rather than the results that come from the actions and output. Sometimes change is fast, sometimes change is slow. A “systems approach” instead of a “goals approach” allows me to comfortably live with this variable.

4. Although it is impossible to anticipate every single obstacle and challenge, it is possible, and even effective, to plan your output around expected changes in your schedule for the day. If you know you will be in a car the whole day, plan what snacks you will have in the car with you so you don’t default to sugary snacks at gas stops. In addition, you can plan to cover more steps than usual in the morning so your movement goals don’t suffer for the day. Planning small adjustments to your days can have a big impact over time.

5. Self-care is a critical component in a Quest to Be Better. Your stress levels directly impact your health and wellness. It is great to follow a system to be healthier. Make sure that your system includes self-care. This can consist of massages, acupuncture appointments, time to take relaxing baths, meditating, or even taking a short walk outside when you start to feel stressed.

6. Your system to guide your Quest to Be Better should change and evolve over time as your daily habits change and evolve. This is how we can all keep getting better, individually and together.