123: Fighting the Defeating Feeling of Being Disappointed With Yourself Again!

That January Defeat Feeling, and a Mini Challenge to Shake It Off

If you’re reading this at the end of January feeling a little defeated, you’re not alone. You started the year with high hopes, and now you blink and you’re staring down February, cataloging everything you meant to do and didn’t.

My own list of undone things

I wanted to eat a little better. I wanted to get on top of some house projects, including a whole plan built around my husband traveling overseas for ten days, historically enough motivation to kick me into high gear on a project. I made zero movement on it. I still haven’t finished my own year-long goals list, the same list I put out there as encouragement for others, which feels a little hypocritical. I’ve already missed two birthday cards I swore I’d get out on time this year. We’re remarkably good at cataloging what we didn’t do, and remarkably bad at remembering what we actually did.

Feeling defeated doesn’t change anything

It’s fine to sit in that disappointed feeling for a moment. But dwelling there past that moment is worse than useless, it’s unproductive, uninspiring, and doesn’t move a single thing forward. So the real question is how to jolt yourself out of that funk instead of just marinating in it.

The plan: many small things, one small month

The best way I know to break out of a slump is to feed off other people’s momentum. So I built a small challenge for February, our shortest month, made up of 28 tiny projects, one for each day, but with zero requirement to do them in any particular order. Pick whichever one appeals to you on a given day. There’s no “day one has to be the first task” rule here.

Keep each task genuinely small

The goal is fifteen minutes or less per mini project. If it only takes five, that still counts fully. Some days you might tackle the same tiny project someone else in your circle is doing that day, other days you might pick something completely different and just do it alongside them. Either way counts as showing up.

Two ways to organize your own list

Write your own 28 tasks as they come to you, adding more over time as ideas surface, or start from a ready-made list of suggestions if you’re blanking on ideas entirely and just want to grab whichever one feels doable that day.

Why doing this with other people matters

Inertia is real, in both directions. Sharing that you did something, even without a photo, even with just a quick “did it” comment, helps pull everyone doing this together out of the same slump. The more people showing up, even quietly, the easier it becomes for the whole group to get moving again.

Your practical, actionable step

Write down 28 tiny household tasks, nothing that takes more than fifteen minutes each, and pick just one to tackle today, in whatever order feels right. Don’t worry about matching a calendar date to a specific task, just start moving.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.