Has there ever been a habit you are dying to have, but you just can’t quite figure out how to stick to it? Or do you have a looming project that you’ve been wanting to get after, but never seem to have the time to do it? I have! I have!!

After having my 7th baby, I just couldn’t get a handle on my health (about 5 years ago). My blood pressure was crazy, the weight wasn’t coming off and my energy was in the tank. But life was SO BUSY, I just didn’t seem to have time to get it figured out. I’d tell myself I was busy with the baby, busy starting a business, it was covid, i had a kid leaving for college, or a mission, there was always something. I kept thinking I needed to follow some regimen or do something, but didn’t have the time or energy I needed to get there.

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Then, just over a year ago, I had been talking with some friends that were sharing in the same frustrations. We all had things we were trying to improve in our personal lives, but felt we weren’t getting anywhere. One of my friends brought up the point, if we could have small little improvements, we would all feel a lot better. That is when Tackle it Tuesdays was born!!

We realized it felt too overwhelming to be on top of these goals all the time, but we could be amazing one day a week, right??!! Instead of turning our life around all at once, we were able to accomplish bit sized goals one day a week. It took the pressure off, and it really helped to check in with each other with texts that one day of the week to hold ourselves accountable.

I started out my Tackle it Tuesdays with plant based eating (more about that journey here. we talked about it on our awesome podcast episode with Ali Essig @plantwhys). But once I got a handle on that I have been able to move on to other things - like home organization!!

It was a great way to think about different routines and habits I wanted to implement in my life: journaling, meditating, playing the piano, painting, writing, yoga, reading more, learning how to receive personal revelation, traveling, ANYTHING! The key was to plan for it. If I was going to be amazing at my eating on Tuesday, I needed to make sure I had done my meal planning and grocery shopping so I had fruits and vegetables ready to go in my fridge on Monday. It would be the same if you were doing any other activity you wanted to work on.

As an example, when I am working hard to eat plant based, it helps for me to go through a big list of plant based recipes so I can get excited about what I’m going to be eating.

If your tackle it Tuesday was weeding your front garden bed and planting flowers, you’d want to get your supplies ready to go on Monday or schedule that time into your Tuesday.

Now, you don’t necessarily have to pick Tuesdays. This is just an example. Maybe you do better with this on Mondays, or Saturdays. It doesn’t matter what day you pick as your day, it just helps to keep it consistent every week.

All this work is definitely easier said that done, so there are ways I try to keep myself on track. Somedays I just don’t feel like tackling my projects, so here are some motivators that help me:

Set a Timer - If I am cleaning out a closet or writing in my journal, setting a short timer to get myself started works wonders. Sometimes you just need to get started - even for 5 minutes! I learned a lot about doing a little bit everyday from Meredith Rotz who came on our podcast to talk about daily writing goals. Listen here for more on that!
Hook in a habit - Attach a new habit onto an old strong one. For example, I learned this home hack from Megan Barker (who talked to us on our podcast about adoption), right after your kids take a bath, grab some cleaner and a towel as they are getting out and wipe out the bathtub. Then you don’t have to make an extra effort later to clean the bathtub!
Check in with a friend or have a friend to do it with you - this is a huge one for me, especially with exercise. I always exercise better when I know a friend is counting on me.
Sticker chart or cute to do list - this works great for my kids, and I have found that I LOVE checking things off a list. We have some really fun printable checklists for different holidays in our freebie resource library. Go here to access all those fun printables!
Dangle a carrot - Have some sort of reward for yourself if you tackle your project or stay up with your habit. . For example, if I am doing meal planning, maybe I put on my plan that I get to go to dinner on Friday night, if I stick to the other meals I am making during the week. If you are stuck in a rut for what to make for dinner, let us help you! We have 3 weeks of dinner ideas for you here!
Set an alarm - Maybe you really want to do the activity or project, you just get busy doing other things and forget or run out of time. I am the queen of setting alarms to remind myself what I should be doing next. Monday night, go through your day and get your alarms set up for Tuesday to tackle everything you need to. Let’s say one of your goals is to get outside and be in nature, but you are hard at work on something else. Get that alarm to go off for your lunch break, for a short break before you need to get your kids, or after a meeting. (Our family has really loved being a part of Lily & Thistle’s Nature Art Club. It has been such a fun way to connect with nature and enjoy the outdoors in a creative way.)
Sticky note - I love sticky notes!! I have them sitting around by my bed, in my office, in my kitchen, wherever I might need to jot myself down an little reminder. I like to stick them right on my calendar or planner where I won’t forget what I need to be doing. These have saved me when I’ve been working on a project like emergency preparedness. You never know when a thought will strike you of something you may need in your 72 Hour Emergency kit that you forgot. For me it always seems to come when I am about to go to sleep or teaching a piano lesson. This is why sticky notes are amazing! Throw that thought on the note to jot in your calendar for Tuesday. (If emergency preparedness is something you would like to work on, we LOVE Melanie at Plan for Awesome. She has a great Quick and Easy Preparedness Course that gets your house ready for emergencies in one month!!)

I hope these tips and ideas are helpful to you. There are a million things I’d love to tackle on Tuesdays. There never seems to be enough time. But for now, my two big projects are organizing my house and taking courses through Lily & Thistle’s Watercolor school!! What do you want to work on first?