The Biggest Lie

I’ll remember.

That’s the biggest and most frequent lie I tell. To coworkers, family, friends, even to myself. It is not an intentional lie, nor is it a mean-spirited one. It is one cloaked in the best of intentions and strongest desires. And you know what they say about good intentions.

Do you tell yourself you’ll remember?

To my coworkers at least, I’ve gotten in the habit of saying “send me an email” for things that I am supposed to do. An unread message in my inbox indicated something I either hadn’t yet gotten to, or needed to return to. As of this writing, my work inbox has 140 unread items. They sit there bolded, each reminding me of something I need to do.

To my family and close friends, I say “you know I’m not going to remember that; send it to me” or “remind me later”. For things I needed to remember or do something with, I’ve gotten in the habit of taking a screenshot. I have 3,055 pictures in my phone right now – probably a third of those are screenshots of some sort, even notes to myself.

As tasks get completed, I do go back through my phone and my email to see what I may have missed, or remind myself of something I need to do. Oftentimes, I’ll come across something I’d completely forgotten about. I didn’t remember.

Story time: 

In November, I set a SMART goal of 4,500 steps per day, no excuses. There were only 2 days where I did not meet that goal, giving me an A (93% for the nerd in me) for the month. My average daily step count was 5,140 steps. With that confidence booster, I felt safe in raising my December goal to 5000 steps per day. 

One of the things I did that I felt really worked for me was setting my Fitbit goal 500 steps lower than my intended goal. When I felt my Fitbit vibrate on my wrist, unobtrusively telling me I’d met my step goal for the day, in my head I knew I only had 500 more steps to go. No more wondering how many more steps I had to get. No more checking my wrist umpteen times to see how close I was. If it hadn’t felt the buzz, I just needed to keep walking. 500 steps after that buzz is nothing. 500 steps – I walk around my house more than that after I come in for the day! I’ve been hitting my steps consistently for an entire month. When the Fitbit goes off, I’ll remember that I have to get 500 more steps in for the day.

I’ve. Got. This.

Now if you’ve made it this far, you probably already know where this is going. A mere 5 days into December, as I stepped out of the car, my Fitbit buzzed. Only 500 more steps to meet my goal. I distinctly remember thinking, only 500 steps to go. Another day is in the books. (Well maybe I didn’t think that last sentence, but I definitely felt it.)

I went into the house and went about my normal evening routine. It wasn’t until the next morning that it hit me: did I get my steps in yesterday?

No, no I didn’t. 

4,813 – the image at the top of this page – that’s how many steps I did that day. 

I didn’t get my steps in because I did not check in on my goal after I came in the house. I didn’t get my steps because I was overconfident after an entire month of mostly getting it right. I didn’t get my steps because when my alert went off, I told myself “I’ll remember.”

Whatever your goal is, make sure you are actively working towards it, as often as you need to. At least daily, but more often if needed. Make sure this goal is somewhere you can see it, whether on your phone, computer, or taped to your bathroom mirror. If you are forming a new habit, make yourself some type of reminder in order to make sure you are staying on track. Before you settle in, make sure you check in on what you meant to accomplish for the day. You may not always meet the goal (and that’s okay), but you won’t not meet it because you told yourself that big lie.

You will remember. Because it’ll be right there in front of you.

Let’s get it.