I tried eating, exercising, sleeping, and spending 'perfectly' for a week — and realized I've been approaching my goals all wrong

I'm very familiar with that feeling — I have more on the list than I can often keep track of: I want to eat healthier, exercise more, cook more often, get less takeout, take fewer cabs, not eat the ice cream in the freezer (or at least not replace the ice cream in the freezer once I've eaten it), check off my whole to-do list, and be the most productive, functional person I can be, all while maintaining my social life and sanity.

And as you might imagine, I'm never quite able to focus on — much less achieve — every goal on that list.

So I decided to test myself. For one week, I would commit to focusing on, and achieving, all of my goals.

The first step in this plan was to explicitly define "perfect."

After going through my general wants and digging into the specifics, my weekly goal list looked like this:

I can tell you immediately: Things did not go according to plan.

Day 1, Sunday: Successful, but entirely work

In my mind, Sundays are for meal prep and laundry, so that's what I did — and besides watching Twin Peaks and Game of Thrones, that's about all I did.

Day 2, Monday: Almost completely successful

Time awake: 6:45 a.m.Money spent:Exercise:To-do list completed: YesTime asleep: 10:30 p.m.

Day 3, Tuesday: One misstep after another led the day to spiral out of control

Tuesday morning was initially very smooth, but after that, there were some speed bumps that made it the black mark on my week.

By the time I normally wake up (7:30), I had put Sunday's laundry away, washed Monday's tupperware, showered and dressed, packed for the gym, and organized all of my food for the day.

I also ended up making more work for myself — while I called my old retirement company to transfer 401K funds to my new provider, I made a mistake and would need to get a notarized letter to correct it.

Luckily I had Muay Thai after work — which is my week's saving grace because I get to socialize while exercising and actively working out any stress that bubbles up during the week.

After, I went to my boyfriend's to help him move the last few things from his old apartment to his new one. When I got there, he had a slice of pizza, garlic knots, and Diet Coke waiting for me — which was just about the greatest thing I could've hoped for that day, and I was not about to say no. That pizza was totally worth it (plus: free).

To-do list completed: Time asleep: a.m.

Day 4, Wednesday: Could have started off poorly, but didn't — and I got back on track

To-do list completed: PartiallyTime asleep: a.m.

Day 5, Thursday: Not perfect, but I stopped letting little things get to me so I could focus on moving forward

I got up at 6:30 a.m., and having accomplished a few things by 7:30 a.m., found myself eating my yogurt at my counter thinking how lovely it was to have a productive morning.

Thursday was a smooth, easy day. I found my stride. I packed my meals and I wasn't spending a lot of money, so little things — like leaving some dishes in the sink — didn't get me down.

It also dawned on me this day that these delicious pretzels I eat at work aren't particularly the healthiest decision I could make — they're like graham crackers or digestive cookies in pretzel form — and that I probably should've opted for an apple, instead. I ate them anyway.

There were other items on my plate that I needed to get done if I really wanted to feel accomplished — like exercise, and get my 401k issues resolved (which, I did get notarized and tried faxing at lunch).

When I got home after my Muay Thai class, I was hungry, but too tired/lazy to cook, so I ate some slices of mozzarella cheese as I stood over my counter. I didn't even care — at least it had calcium.

To-do list completed: YesTime asleep:

Day 6, Friday: Far less restrictive than the other days, and felt normal

I woke up thinking 6:30 a.m. was brutal, but I managed to get myself up and to a 7 a.m. yoga class (luckily I had prepped everything the night before), which was the perfect start to a morning. I really should force myself out of bed for it more often — it was by donation so I only paid $2, and it was the best start to a morning I'd had in a long time.

I spent the entire rest of the day looking forward to the food I was going to buy after work. This was my takeout night, and I could not wait. I was so bored from eating the same three things all week.

My to-do list didn't get smaller, though—it turned out the fax didn't go through, so I had to go to FedEx and pay to re-fax the letter to my retirement company.

After work I ran home, and decided I'd pick up Indian food — and root beer. All in all, the cost came out to about $34.

Friday was a fairly easy day, and I wrapped it up by sitting around a relaxing fire pit with my boyfriend and some friends. Before falling asleep at 2:30 a.m., I had the thought that hitting all of these goals in one week had actually been almost possible — there were only a few slip-ups, but all in all, I did most of what I needed to do. It was productive.

But I still resisted the idea holding myself to all of these goals for another week — I was so incredibly tired, and having such an easy day made me think I was missing something or doing something wrong.

To-do list completed: YesTime asleep:

Day 7, Saturday: Went over budget, and did not care

I was able to achieve (most of) my goals on Saturday — I made a list of my Saturday to-do's, and I did most of them, I found cheap or free ways to entertain myself, but there were a few sore spots.

First, I went to Rite Aid and spent $20 on things I needed, which I hadn't really accounted for earlier in the week — but then it dawned on me that my attitude was totally wrong, again. I'd just buy them tomorrow, or later next week, and ultimately, I'm still spending that money on things I actually needed. And unforeseen costs are always going to pop up — I shouldn't allow them to affect my mood because (here's the kicker) there's never going to be a perfect week.

In the evening, I met up with a friend to ride the Staten Island Ferry (free!) and check out Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream to see what the hype is all about. It was the perfect end to the week — although the ice cream itself ran me upwards of $7 for two scoops. It was also raining, and since the trains weren't running in my neighborhood, I took an Uber.

To-do list completed: Almost but noTime asleep: After 11:30 p.m.

Takeaways: There's never going to be a perfect week.

Trying to do accomplish everything was completely draining, and a ridiculous expectation.

My energy depleted quickly, and while I was incredibly productive, I still did not accomplish everything perfectly. As disciplined and dedicated as I was,

But it helped me better understand that I've been setting my goals all wrong.

1. Prioritization is everything.

2. It's all about attitude.

Why? Because I choose to view it as one. I did a pretty good job.

I could say my slip-ups led to a week of failed goals — however, that would negate all of the things that I did well, even if they weren't done 100% perfectly.

On Tuesday, when I spent three times as much on cabs as I intended to for the week, got home late, and didn't prepare for the next morning, I didn't let it affect my Wednesday morning plan even though it easily could've. I got out of bed and found a plan B.

I could've taken Uber every day, but I didn't. I exercised five days in a row, made all of my lunches (and ate them), and only went over my budget by about $14. I also ate more sugar than I wanted — I mean, I barely committed to that goal. I ate chocolate on day one!

3. That being said, you should probably avoid setting unrealistic expectations for yourself.

High expectations can be good — you want to strive for something — but they should also be realistic.

Having this many goals for one week and expecting myself to do them all perfectly just set me up for failing on a few. It makes a lot more sense to aim for one or two things and work on making them habit before adding in anything else.

And if there was anything in this week that I would incorporate into my week and prioritize going forward, it's exercising daily and waking up early. Those two things gave me the tools to feel productive and positive, even when other things slide.

If I can do that most of the time, I'll call it a success.

I tried eating, exercising, sleeping, and spending 'perfectly' for a week — and realized I've been approaching my goals all wrong

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!