For the past two years, I’ve spent the month of March writing a blog post a day. I loved getting that far ahead, as well as exercising the discipline needed to stick with it. Last year I almost didn’t finish, but a funny event got me back on track.
This year I knew March wouldn’t work for me – it was too busy of a time at work, and I knew I would be setting myself up to fail. I decided instead to do May. I got ten posts in, and then work got in the way, and I stopped, vowing to try again later this year. I set my sights on July.
Things started out well doing one a day, and then some life changing things happened (more on that later – don’t you wish I would quit with the build up already?) and I got behind. Really behind. I started to catch up, but then I basically gave up. A last minute push brought me up to 26 for the month.
At first I was I was disappointed with myself. I didn’t make my goal. Then I put things in perspective: I enjoyed the challenge of completing all those posts, and even though I didn’t reach my target, I was only five away. Since the ultimate goal was to give myself some blog breathing space so I wasn’t writing to deadline, in that respect I succeeded.
Then I had another way of making myself feel better: by combining the two attempts, I ended up with 36 posts! That worked.
I must admit that while I had an idea for this post before I started writing, I came up with the title first. That then made me laugh because “Lowered Expectations” was the name of my favorite recurring segment on Mad TV.
In the SNL tradition of having fake ads throughout the program, Lowered Expectations dating service ads ran throughout their entire first season. This service was for people who knew they would never date a 10 … or even anyone in the 6-10 range.
What was your last personal challenge? or Does anyone else fondly remember MadTV?
Grown Up, Now What? 
My last personal challenge? Ah – ugh – in it right now. I have a huge decision facing me that will greatly affect our family. I know what I want to do…what, in truth, I have to do. But it’s terrifying.
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Good luck with your decision. The right-for-you-right-now answer will come. I know you will feel much better once the decision is made.
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I remember madTV only slightly. I was aware of it, but never watched much. As for a personal challenge…yeah, I do those very regularly. Some I stick with and others not so much. Just recently I gave myself the challenge of going to the gym three times a week every week and I kept that pace up for two months. But I had to break it when I got sick. Not my fault, but it was bad to break a good run.
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Sickness does horrible things to workout routines! It’s amazing how quickly one’s fitness level can drop, despite how long it took to raise it! I hope you able to get back into the routine.
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