The mid-month slump is real. I’m just going to say it: I hit the wall this week. If you’ve been following along and suddenly found yourself staring at your guidebook with a sense of "I just can’t today," please know that I am right there with you. Between the demands of work, the kids, and the general mental load of life, the energy to "design" felt non-existent over the last few days. And when it was there, the time to sit down for myself wasn't.
The novelty of January 1st has officially worn off. This is the part of the journey where the "Grand Plan" starts to feel like "One More Chore." My guidebook stayed closed on my desk for two days straight, and for a moment, that old familiar voice whispered: “See? You’re drifting again.” Here is the lesson I’m leaning into today: A "design" that only works when you are at 100% isn't a design. It's a fantasy.
Life is messy. It’s loud. It’s unpredictable. Real life design isn't about having a perfect streak of "on" days; it’s about having the grace to handle the "off" days without throwing away the whole map. I’ve realized that hitting this wall right now is actually the best thing that could happen to us, because it proves why Week Four is the most important week of this entire challenge.
Next week, we move into our final phase: Laying Roots of Resilience. We are going to stop talking about what happens when things go right and start talking about what to do when things go wrong.
We’ll be covering:
The Plan B Protocol: This is for the days like I had this week. We’ll learn how to create "Minimum Baselines," the 5-minute version of your habits that keeps your momentum alive even when you're running on fumes.
The Pre-Mortem: We are going to look ahead and anticipate the "assassins" of our goals. By doing a "pre-emptive post-mortem," we can figure out why we might fail before it actually happens, and build the shields to stop it.
The Goal is Ground Covered, Not Perfection If you’ve had a day (or three) that wasn't "by design," don't let that be the reason you quit. The goal isn't to be perfect; the goal is to be resilient. I’m dusting off my guidebook today, not because I have a burst of magical energy, but because I’ve decided that "baby steps" still count as covering ground.
Let’s finish this third week strong, even if "strong" just means showing up for five minutes. I’ll see you Monday as we start Week Four and learn how to name that inner critic once and for all!
