There are few things in life I enjoy talking about more than habits, goal setting, and letting go of our society’s unhealthy obsession with busyness. With our upcoming 21 Day challenge we can do all three! We are taking 21 days to pick out our top three priorities for the day. We can set a habit, set some goals, and let go of the busyness. It sounds counterintuitive but I promise it’s not.
We envision approaching this challenge in three different ways. The first is that you simply take your weekly to do list (do you have one of those? If not, come talk to me after class) and you do three things off the to do list each day and move on. Now, we recognize that there are things on the to do list of life that must get done every single day. Feed children. Brush teeth. Etc. We all have that aspirational to do list. You know the one. Where you are going to make the doctor’s appointments and go through the mail and routine the extra thing to Target and buy a birthday present and get the groceries, etc. That list. It has to get finished eventually. Will your life be smoother and happier if you get it finished sooner than later? Probably. Can some of those things be pushed three or four week or eight months and life keeps going? Definitely. Do you carry that to-do list with you like a weight pulling you down as something that allows you to show off your business while simultaneously trying to prove your worthiness to the world. Look Mom, I’m productive, I’m so busy. I’m worthy!! Our productivity and busyness are not connected to each other frankly, but that’s a discussion for another day, and definitely not tied to our worthiness. Wouldn’t it be great if we weren’t frozen by the pressure to complete the entire list and instead knew we could just complete three tasks and move on? This is one way to approach our Top three in 21 challenge.
Another way to approach this challenge is with a habit you want to set in mind. Maybe you want to exercise more. Maybe you want to institute a nighttime routine. Maybe you need more brain breaks during the day. Whatever habit you want to set or mini habits that will build a routine, break it down into three parts and those are your three things. This is one of the options I am considering. I would like to take more purposeful breaks during my day. This would also help with my block scheduling. I would love to take three mini brain breaks. They could be a 5 minute yoga, a 10 minute guitar lesson, a 10 minute piano play, work on a project, etc. I could also use this to set a bedtime routine. Washing face, fill a glass of water, read for a few minutes.
The final way we envision this challenge is if you have a big project you want to tackle. Maybe it’s organizing a basement or planning a trip or writing a book. Whatever it looks like, the project is probably an overwhelming number of tasks that you push off. This approach takes a little more planning because before we start you need to take some time to make a huge list of all the things you need to do. Then again, for your first few days could be writing the list. Once you get your list you start checking things off one by one. Or three by three.
There are a few goals for this #Top3for21 Challenge. They aren’t the same goal for everyone participating. The first is to help you set a habit if that’s what you want to do. The second is to complete a project. The third is to separate yourself from the idea that you need to complete an entire to-do list or stay busy all the time to be successful. You don’t need to complete a project in a day or set a perfectly huge overwhelming routine or check every box to be enough. You are enough. You are wonderful just as you are. And together we can reach goals and set habits and still not be tied to busyness. We are going to let go of that nonsense.
We hope you join us in our #Top3for21 challenge. We will be hopping on Instagram going live each day with our goal sharing our successes and our not so much successes. Heck, we’re all fans of the growth mindset here, we can say failures without feeling bad. Join us for this adventure.
