Week 6! I’m about a quarter of the way through my Getting Uncomfortable (Losing 23 lbs in 23 Weeks) journey and man, am I learning a lot about myself. I am quite the anal- retentive, unyielding, inflexible person. Maybe a lot of you out there are just like me—unwilling to bend when you’re on a mission. But when you’re on a journey with a specific goal in mind, whether it be weight loss or starting a business or getting through college, you learn a lot about how to be flexible.
Being Flexible is NOT my Jam
I use my Law of Attraction Planner Law of Attraction Planner like it’s a bible. It helps me map out my day in a way that works for me. (I use the time blocking method.) I can plan my whole 16 hours or so of being awake and this makes me feel productive. To me, there is no flying by the seat of my pants—I am in total control. I generally stick to my schedule every day. When I am planning to have downtime…I even schedule that. Needless to say, being flexible is not the way I roll.
Eye-Opening Moment
One day a few weeks ago, in a weird moment of chilling out (chilling out is not my jam, either), I was taking a quiz online. I think it was Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies Quiz. Anyway, one of the questions asked “what would other people change about you if they could”?
I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. I don’t know what other people are thinking about me. Certain that my darling Hubby would not change a thing about me—after all, he loves me just the way I am—I asked him the question.
What he said was surprising (as it usually is when you discover what people are thinking about you). He said he wishes I would change how I react when things don’t go as planned and I would be flexible. What?!?!?
I Can’t Be Flexible! Being Rigid is What Makes Me Productive!
This is how I get things done! How else will I get things done if I don’t stick to my schedule every day? The thought made me kind of nervous. Can you guys relate?
So last Sunday I sat down with my planner—as I do on Sundays—to map out my strategy for the week. (I liken it to a general going into battle.) It was then I discovered that four nights this week, I had something to do for a majority of the evening. FOUR nights?!?!?
That’s When I Started Hyperventilating.
At the beginning of this school year, I tried something different. (The best time for me to start something new is at the beginning of the school year when I’m adjusting to going back to work.) It had been getting increasingly more difficult for me to fit in working out in the morning, so I changed it up. I now work out at night. And then I shower at night which was strange for me to adjust to. That frees up my mornings so that I can get up and ease into my day. I also plan for about 45 minutes of editing or writing every morning.
How was I going to get my workouts in if I had things to do FOUR nights this week????
The Obvious Solution Was to Work-Out in the Morning.
But I couldn’t do that, either! Even though I wake up at 5:45 every morning so I have plenty of time, I would have to get up even earlier because I would need to shower after working out. And I wouldn’t have time to edit, either…although I would probably be able to fit those 45 minutes in at the end of the day instead.
I have to admit, the idea of switching up my schedule after finally adjusting to it over the course of the school year, made me break out into hives. Inflexible old me was NOT HAPPY.
I Had to Make a Choice.
Either I suck it up and start being flexible with my workouts and wake up a few minutes earlier, or I suffer the consequences of not working out pretty much all week. Okay, I realize this is probably not what Hubby meant by being flexible—he probably meant more spontaneous or not living by my planner—but for me, this was huge. I actually debated this for the better part of Sunday.
In the End, I Changed it Up
It was difficult to get up even earlier, but I have to say, it was really nice having my workouts out of the way in the morning. Even though my evenings were busy this week, I didn’t have the whole “I have to work out when I get home” hanging over my head. Plus, I didn’t have the issue of something cropping up in the afternoon or evening to mess with my schedule of working out.
So in actuality, my being flexible meant I didn’t have to be flexible COMPLETELY. I planned my flexibleness (I don’t think that’s a word) and reduced the chance that I had to be spontaneously flexible later on in the day.
I’m Advocating For Planning To Be Flexible…
Some of you out there are rolling your eyes. To you, being flexible is no big deal. It’s the way you do things. You’re adaptable to changes in plans at a moment’s notice. And that’s the way you get things done (or maybe not). Hey, everyone’s different. Hubby is like this.
But I know a lot of you may be like me…reluctant to stray from your schedule. But sometimes in a journey you need to adapt to what’s thrown at you. It’s so much easier to just say “well I can’t do this because I can’t fit it into my schedule”. That’s when people end up going off the path. That’s when the Messy Middle leads to us giving up. When we refuse to be flexible because we are set in what has worked for us all along.
It’s About Getting Uncomfortable After All…
That’s what this journey has been for me. Me getting uncomfortable to achieve my goal. And being flexible for me was uncomfortable. But that’s what we need to do to accomplish things that are hard…go out of your comfort zone.
And For Me, It Worked Out This Week.
I was delighted to see this on the scale:
Yes, my socks don’t match, but with my busy week, I never fit that pedicure in…
I’m down over 11 lbs. I am delighted that I was able to get through this week, changing things up so that I could accomplish that. And my Law of Attraction planner allowed me to still feel like I was in control.
Now I know there will be a time when I can’t schedule being flexible, and I’m going to have to adapt on the fly. But right now, this is a step in the right direction. I just hope I don’t panic when the time comes…]]>