Pivoting Goals for the Win!

November is the month when we all start looking at what goal we set for ourselves
for the 365 Mile Challenge for the year. We look at the miles we’ve gotten and
calculate what we thought we would get. Some of us start to PANIC because now
that goal doesn’t seem likely.

Let me share with you how my last weekend went. I had a long list of things to get done last weekend. I set up my list based on the
weather forecast. I had Friday off and the weather was supposed to be rainy all day. Fine, I set my goals for Friday to be to get a lot of indoors things done. You know things like housework, shopping, etc. Friday went great. I checked off all my tasks and felt accomplished.

Saturday, the weather was still supposed to be off and on rain, so I decided to still do inside things but more fun things. I wanted to work
on some crafts to start getting my Christmas gifts made. Saturday went fairly well. I got one gift made and another mostly completed. I still felt accomplished because I met most of my goals.

Now for Sunday. On Friday, when I set up my plan, Sunday was supposed to be cloudy in the morning and sunny by the afternoon. I knew by Sunday I would want to be outside getting miles on my feet and taking pictures of the fall foliage. I was excited about it. I planned on a few different places to go to get different landscapes. I even planned which hikes I was taking my dog with me. Sunday, I got up very early so I could get the grocery shopping done as soon as the store opened. On the way to the store there were a few raindrops, but I figured it was just a little left over from Saturday. We got home from shopping, put everything away, I loaded up my hiking gear and my dog. She was so excited about going for a hike! As I was heading to my first spot for photos, it started drizzling. I kept hoping against hope that the rain would stop by the time I parked. When I parked, no luck it was still raining. I waited for a few minutes and still no joy. I jumped out of the car, took a few pictures, and got back in the car. I drove to the
next spot and the rain had pretty much stopped so I grabbed my gear and my dog
and off we went. I made it two tenths of a mile before the rain started again. Dang!
Skunked again! My poor pup was looking at me with sad eyes. I was feeling
frustrated and sad too. I planned my hikes to take advantage of peak foliage in our
area. Fall is my favorite time for hiking and picture taking. All my Sunday goals
were failing! What to do?! I hate not meeting goals I’ve set for myself.

Here is what I decided to do. Instead of getting upset, I rolled back my grand expectations for the day. I knew I would not be able to get to everything I wanted to do so I needed to figure out what I could do and what could be salvaged. First, I went home because I cannot hike with my camera gear in the rain. I decided I would finish up the gift I started the day before and I made another gift. Once that was done, I checked the skies. I could see some blue up there and the rain had stopped. So, I loaded up my dog and headed off to the rail trail. It was close, had
opportunities for cover if the rain came back and there were some pretty places to get foliage pictures. Bear (that’s my hiking buddy pup) and I headed out for our hike on the trail. We made it about a half mile before the rain came back but I got under one of the small shelters and waited for it to stop. We wound up getting a little over five miles dodging rain showers and ducking under the shelters. I even got a few pictures with sunshine.

So, what does this all boil down to? If your goals will not fit into your real-life situation, it’s time to change, or adjust or completely scrap your goals and set goals that are realistic. It is not failure, it is learning and overcoming your circumstances. While Sunday didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, after I changed my goals, I had a great walk with my dog and still got pretty pictures so it was a total win!