Every Monday is a Reset

I just got back from two weeks in Vegas: first week to see my Mom and Dad, and the second week to support everyone at TEAM (our important annual ecosystem event). Zero people maintain their dietary choices in Vegas. For me, I did okay enough, though that mac and cheese with fried chicken on it from the Yardbird was surely outside of plan. It's okay. Food with friends has fewer calories.

That's what got me thinking about Mondays. I'm home, at my desk, still a tiny bit groggy from the last two weeks (because I'm old), but full of energy and excitement and thoughts about what's in front of me.

Every Monday is a Reset

You get 50+ Mondays every year which means 50 reminders to commit to your choices. You can review your #my3words picks and make sure you're still aligned to those. You can review the promises you've made yourself and every Monday snap back to the plan.

The secret is to throw away the guilt feelings. "Oh wow, I didn't go to the gym ONCE last week." <- That doesn't help. It's actually kind of a magnetic way to stay doing the choice you didn't want. Rephrase it: "Monday! I'm back to it!"

And guess what? If you mess up another week, YOU GET ANOTHER MONDAY!

More than three in a row, and you're committing to a different path than you said you were. But remove the guilt.

Guilt is the least helpful self-improvement tool in the world

We spend a lot of energy thinking guilty thoughts, regretting things, wallowing in what happened that we can't fix. It's so much wasted time and energy. Guilt is useless.

Instead, commit again. Use every Monday to reset. Take a different tack. Review what you're trying to get done, because maybe you're trying to do too many changes at the same time.

That mac and cheese with fried chicken on top at the Yardbird was delicious and the whole bunch of us (maybe six people) ate some variant of the same thing, and we all made yummy faces and sounds. I'm not guilty. It was a very fun memory.

And now it's Monday, and I had some overnight oats with peaches on top. I'll do some grilled veggies and maybe some lentils and rice all thrown together like a bad attempt at daal. It's all good. It's Monday again.

50 Resets a Year

Every Friday, I commit to reviewing the week prior. I write out things I observed, details I don't want to forget. Information I want to recall compressed out of the daily blather of my journal. That means that I go into the weekend having reflected on the week prior. Now, on Mondays, I reset.

I get 50 resets a year (maybe more!), and it means I can commit to my intentions. I can do better with my word, as 4 Agreements guy would say.

It's Monday. Are you ready for a reset?

Chris...