Fortifying resolutions

I don't really set New Year's resolutions because I am usually working on various things throughout the year as the need arises. Still, I learn some things from those, and if some of you are about to make some resolutions, this could help.

I am just going to give a case study of one thing I am working on.

I am diabetic, and one thing that it is important to me to do is to regularly check my blood sugar. I am not great at this, because of various stupid things that come up.

I have misplaced my glaucometer before, but sometimes it is just that it is in my purse or somewhere inconvenient, and I don't get to it. Sometimes I know I have let too much time go by because I grab the meter and this time I am going to do it for sure, and it needs to charge.

More often the issue is that I primarily remember to do it in the morning when I get up, which is a good time to take it, but only taking in the morning is not enough. I tend to run higher in the morning, which is not bad on its own, but if I only check in the morning I don't get an accurate picture of how I am doing.

Because of this, I sometimes decide not to take it in the morning because I need to get a different time of day, but then I forget.

This is how I am getting around that. I have created a paper to cover the time between now and my next doctor's appointment. Measuring twice a day has been my goal, so I am putting two times under each day. This allows me to make sure that I get a variety, not just of different times, but of combinations of different times.

The paper, a pen, and my currently charging meter are all on my desk, where I spend a lot of time. This should help me keep in mind when to measure, and have everything ready to do so. For example, I see that tomorrow I want to measure before breakfast and before lunch. I have that in my head already, and I will see it early tomorrow.

This should work. Even for weekend days, where I don't spend as much time at the computer, I will have seen what Saturday should be while I was working on Friday, and if I then go to fill in the time for Saturday I can check out Sunday, and I expect this to work.

For everything you do or don't do that you find frustrating, there are reasons why it happens. You can be mad at yourself, but that's not nearly as productive as figuring out where the pitfalls are and how to help them.