I appreciate your kudos on the name Motivation Mondays. I wanted something a bit more sassy but as I add on more weekly series (that already have alliteration names) it just might work after all.

I have dealt with being a perfectionist a LOT in my life, and have skimmed the surface of it here as well. It's very difficult for a life-long perfectionist to be able to say "It's OK that I didn't complete this" or "It's OK that I didn't achieve this." This is also tricky as an idea person, because there are so many things you want to do and not enough time/energy/money to do them! I'm learning a lot about taking baby steps and celebrating those baby steps, as it's not necessarily about the Big Picture – and if you don't get there, at least you had fun/learned a bit along the way!

I think there's real semantics at play with commitment and accountability, which I'm currently drafting a post on. I absolutely agree that you need to not only hold your accountable for your goals – that is, the ones you are committed to – but also you need to put into action how you're going to obtain that goal. What is it going to take to get you there?

Thanks again for reading, commenting & following, Julie!

As a professional organizer, I'm all for SMART goals, but I often joke with clients that we should make SMARTY goals, where the Y stands for YOURS. Too often, the goals and resolutions people make are designed to serve someone else's expectations and/or aspirations.

I think it's also helpful to understand all the obstacles to achieving our goals. For example, we're often perfectionist procrastinators–if we can't do it perfectly, we don't want to start. If we were born that way, we'd all still be diapered and unable to walk! We need to be willing to make booboos. Similarly, we have to know that backsliding doesn't mean failure…sometimes backsliding is a great clue to the mystery of why we haven't achieved our goals.

Also, we're often overwhelmed by what we have to do to get where we want to go…that's where accountability comes in, whether it comes from posting on a blog so all can see, to attending Weight Watchers meetings to checking in with a buddy to see if you hit your 10,000 steps-a-day goal.

I'll keep watching your posts. At 41, I'm still working hard at becoming a grownup!