Three small weekly goals beat one giant promise to myself

2026-10-19 1410 views 2 posts

Every Sunday before close I write three things on the back of a receipt and tape it inside the till drawer. No app, no streaks, just three. Last week's list: taste the soup with a spoon and stop there, serve my own dinner in the small blue bowl, and text my sister about something that isn't food.

I'm about fourteen weeks in and the big goals never survived past Tuesday. The small ones mostly do. Some weeks I only get one, and I've stopped grading the week like a report card.

The tasting one is the tough one. Standing behind the steam table, everything is warm and right there and the little spoons are free. Writing it down somewhere I touch money all day somehow turns it into a decision instead of a reflex. Two out of three this week, which felt like a win.

Curious what everyone else puts on a weekly list — habit stuff, food stuff, or a mix of both?

I love the receipt-in-the-till thing—it’s physical in a way apps aren’t. The version that stuck for me in maintenance was making one goal a “stop,” one a “start,” and one a connection goal.

Example: stop at one handful of nuts, start with a full glass of water before lunch, text a friend. Keeps me from quietly turning the list into a diet to-do list.

Do you pick all three on Sunday, or leave one slot open for whatever the week throws at you?