How to Build a Better Life with 30- Day Challenges
Sometimes it takes a challenge to reinvent ourselves.
As of this posting, I’ve written, published, and promoted at least one idea each day for the past thirty days in a row.
How it Started
It started as a simple goal to put more of my work out there.
I have the unfortunate tendency to go all-in on a single creative project, focus on it until it’s done, and then move on without a second thought.
I also tend to neglect sharing the process along the way.
So, I wanted to make an effort to change that.
How it’s Going
The first few days I wrote and I shared. As I kept showing up, the momentum continued to build. I was propelled by the idea that all I needed to do was push through any dips in motivation and show up for the thirty days.
Then, and only then, I could choose to keep the habit going or move on. But until that day came, I needed to show up.
So if you’re struggling with maintaining your New Year’s resolutions, consider taking the month of February (or the next 30 days) as your opportunity to experiment. Think of something you want to improve or enhance in your life and make it a theme around which you temporarily structure everything else.
30 Day Challenge Ideas:
Read (15) pages before bed every night
Walk for 30 min each day
Drink (3) 32oz bottles of water every day
Write (1) journal entry each day
Sketch (1) doodle in your sketchbook each day
Go to bed half an hour earlier every night
Track how you spend all of your time every day
Practice a new instrument for 30 min each day
The Results
I’m happy to see how focusing on one thing exclusively for a month has improved my habits and I can’t wait to see how the same technique may help other areas of my life as well.
Over the past 30 days, I was able to both share my ideas to more people and experiment with ideas I’ve rarely discussed before in public. Next month, I’m switching gears to working on a fitness habit around rowing.
The month after that—who know? But I’ll get to decide when I get there.
I wish you great success in trying to challenge yourself for the next thirty days! What will you choose? Let me know by replying to this email and good luck!
Recent Finds
Hal Elrod — How to Live Your Life in 30 Day Challenges (Podcast) | You may have heard of Hal from his best-selling book, “The Miracle Morning.” I happened upon this particular episode from his podcast several days into building up my write/share habit this month and it inspired me to turn the effort into a 30 Day Challenge. If you want more detail into how to structure a 30 Day Challenge, I highly recommend you take a listen.
Ali Abdaal — Why You Never Have Enough Time (YouTube Short) | An clip from a larger interview with Oliver Burkeman about our relationship with time. It’s a fascinating insight into how we perceive time and why that perception is misaligned with what time actually is.
Quote of the Week
“Mental Health is like Dental Health. We get these little cavities of stresses and anxieties and depressions and lacks of self love or value. These little, tiny mental cavities. We don’t do the work to eradicate them when they’re little. They rot and fester, and rot and fester—and become full on root canals later on... but still fixable. You can still get there. You can still do it.”
—Zachary Levi, Inside of You Podcast with Michael Rosenbaum
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
