Here’s another of my odd confessions: I have a little black and purple dictator on my wrist. Almost exactly a year ago, after waffling about it for a while, I got my first activity tracker. Hello, daily step goals. Hello, this is why an adult woman is jogging in place in the bedroom just before midnight with a small dog giving me the “What the…” look. I love the thing. It gives me nudges, it gives me reminders, and it gives me several daily targets.

That’s a human thing, isn’t it? Give us a target – we wanna hit it. This is why we like to-do lists, archery, and football. Wait – whaaat? To-do lists? Yup. Nothing but a list of targets. Hit ’em all, win the prize, even (or especially) if  that prize is just ten minutes on the couch with a book and a piece of chocolate. We love reaching goals.

If you set a genuine goal and make it – it feels really good. You finished that paper, washed all the dishes, hit your step count without having to jog around scaring the cats. Even if goal was just getting the trash out to the curb for pick up – it was a goal and you met it and that comes with a nice slice of satisfaction. (In case this feels like a rather low bar – the “curb” my trash goes to is down at the end of the street. Getting it there requires hauling one bag at a time down the driveway and over about 300 feet of gravel road while managing the leash for the small dog who insists on coming.)

And – if hitting goals is good – what’s EVEN better is exceeding them. Going beyond. Bigger, faster, better. Stretching your legs, your abilities, your goals. If it was something you wanted to get done, and you did it more and better than before – how cool is that? If
you were in such wonderful flow with the work that you weren’t even aware you were exceeding your goal, and then… there you were! AWE. SOME. If you were very aware, and you just decided to go for it, because it was meaningful, and you wanted it and you made it – totally awesome. I get such a kick out of it when my wrist band starts boogieing and I look down to discover I’ve already hit my steps for the day, or doubled the stairs, and I was just doing my thing – teaching my classes or walking the dogs or whatever. Hitting the goal is a good feeling. Exceeding the goal is a great feeling. Especially if that goal is meaningful to you. And it’s kind of fun if it comes with a vibrated high-five from the minder strapped to your wrist.

What goals are you going for today?

I will admit, dear readers, that the blog was a stretch goal for me this week – I love writing it, I’m so grateful that you read it, and some weeks (as you may have noticed), it takes me a while to get there. But we’re here, so high-five to us! And we’ll do it again next week, I promise – because, after 9 months, it’s still my goal. ♥

Stay tuned for more on the Here’s a Quarter blog next week! As always, your thoughts and comments are always welcome – they are moderated (I know – adulting again), so they may take a little while to appear, but I read them all and appreciate that you were here. Thank you!