So, Angela said we could post any feedback about the challenge and I thought I'd post my two thoughts concerning the logistics of the challenge.
1. Rule in Question: One serving of sweets a day
So, my issue with this rule is the all or nothing bonus points accompanying it. I messed it up on Monday...and then on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I didn't even try that hard because I knew I wouldn't get the points anyway. Kind of funny (my husband though so anyway). Not sure how I would have changed it, but that one week where I was weak at the beginning ended up making it worse for me the whole week.
2. Rule in Question: Personal Goal
I loved having my personal goal to commit to and work on. It was something I really needed, and this challenge gave me the motivation to really work towards it. My difficulty with it (and really the constant challenge rules), was the points. If I did it all 7 days, I got my 20 points. If i missed ONE day, then I was down to 12 points. That was pretty discouraging almost every week. Plus, it made me feel like I couldn't catch up point wise. There were people who had already gotten more points than I COULD get, even if I did get 100 the rest of the weeks. Once again, that made me feel like, why try? I understand giving additional extra points for getting a 100, but it made the challenge really spread out. Maybe just 1 point per day; or 2 points per day. But make it per day. Maybe an additional third if you get all 7. I don't know. But it just made it difficult for me mentally.
And those are my two points of feedback. They're things I've been saying a lot to friends and to my husband when I talk about this challenge, so I thought I'd share it with y'all. Did anyone have similar findings? thoughts? How did you overcome this?
thanks again everyone! And Angela! :)
-Amber
So, reading this, I thought Cody wrote it! I know she had mentioned these or something similar before. As a very competitive person, I actually found it hard to stay motivated after seeing how far ahead others were after the second week. And last week....I cringe to think what my score was, because I kept telling myself it didn't matter since I wasn't in the running anyway. That is totally a mental thing, and I had to talk myself out of it daily, but when it came to desserts last week, I messed up Wednesday and then realized even if I did well the rest of the week, I had already lost my points, so...I just wrote it off entirely! Having some serious PMS chocolate cravings didn't help! Maybe having everything be points per day might help?
ReplyDeleteI think having the point system set up so that you could make a comeback and still potentially win after a/some minor slip ups would bring a different element to the challenge. I think it could certainly motivate everyone a little more. -- i think i'm a wee bit competitive so that pushes me to make sure I don't slip up.
ReplyDeleteThough I think no matter what the support found either at home, with friends or through the blog really helps whether we get full points or not. it's the encouragement and support we receive that can help us make and keep these healthy habits. thanks angela for setting this up!
I agree that it is hard to keep motivated once you've fallen. My first two times I knew I wouldn't win and dealt with - why bother I'm so far behind! But I had to just remember I was doing the challenge to be healthier and that was my motivation.
ReplyDeleteThis time, though, I decided I was in it to win it and worked hard knowing missing even one point would lose it ( which it did!). But being that motivated made it easier because near the end I would say to myself, is this worth $100? It made it very easy to resist. But again, it was only because it wasn't my first time doing a challenge like this. So yes, I think just remembering the overall goal of improving health needs to be yours in motivation.
Would more prizes given (say, to the top five?) help? Not sure....
I think the pull of knowing just missing one day looses a big chunk of points was huge motivation for me to not let myself miss that first one. But again, I'm sure this comes from my more competitive side... And doesn't at all answer how to keep motivated once you've missed...
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