Set the Bar Low for Success

Last week, I decided to take it easy getting back into goals for ROW80 Round 2. I knew I had a lot of other commitments that would take a lot of time, and for once, remembered those and planned accordingly. I even got a couple things accomplished for the week that I didn’t include in my ROW80 goals.

Dress back

This part’s done except for the hem!

It worked! Here’s how it went:

  • Dress: rework for fit and complete overdress portion – Done!
  • Web design: simple placeholder home page design – Done!
  • Writing: 1,500 words on short story – Done!

I can’t remember the last time I saw that! Maybe because I’ve never limited my ROW80 goals to as few as three things, and keeping them simple. I put many hours into the dress, and my daughter is thrilled. It now fits perfectly! I haven’t heard back from the family member who the web design is for, but I just did that and sent it out today. I like how it looks, so I hope he does, too. If not, reworking it will be next week’s goal.

And the writing: 1,500 words isn’t much, considering I was doing that in one evening for NaNoWriMo, but it’s a lot with this other stuff going on. I’m using what I learned in the writing workshop I took last month, and as our instructor likes to say, it’s “great fun.”

The giveaway has ended. Thanks for your interest!

Since this worked well, and I still have a lot to do on the dress and website, I’m going to stick with this pattern for now. I’m going to start back into some fitness routines too, now that I’m feeling better and less tired than a week ago. So here’s the plan:

  • Dress: sew underskirt and hem. That will complete the dress itself, leaving only the petticoat.
  • Web design: post placeholder home page (depending on approval and extent of any rework needed)
  • Writing: 1,500 more words on short story
  • Fitness: 3 short workouts

Have you ever set the bar low to give yourself a better chance of meeting your goals? What do you do when you’ve consistently not met your goals? Whether or not you’re participating in ROW80, I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.