April’s goal was my least successful so far. It turns out that cumulative goals are much easier for me than daily goals, where you have no room to recover from a bad day and make up for it later. 8,000 steps a day seemed like an easy target, but weekends in particular – my sore spot to begin with – proved much more challenging than I expected Dentist central. Some of the 11 days that I came in under 8,000 I’m excusing myself for: there were a few days where we spent all day outside in the garden, and although walking up and down a hill with watering cans and shoveling compost for hours may only count as 5,000 steps, it’s certainly more active (and exhausting), then taking a walk through the park. Other days I think my tracker app was a little glitchy – like when it thought I slept at the liquor store and drove for the entire 15 minute walk to the train. But really, I don’t want to make too many excuses. I just didn’t quite succeed, and I need to recognize that gucci clearance sale.

But failing doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a good goal – on the contrary, it means it was a hard goal and therefore a great goal. There’s no point in setting your sights too low. So although I have a new official goal for May, I’m not taking the 8,000 steps off my list, either. I know I won’t get it every day, but having it in the back of my mind makes me so much more conscious of how active I’m being, and even on the days that I fell short, I made an effort to get out at lunchtime, or walk through the park on my way home. So I want to keep doing that, and I’m considering ordering a real tracker to help with the technological frustration piece. Although, the idea should be the movement, not the number. We’ll see headphone stand.