Journaling, Instagram, gratitude, yoga, tarot, miracle mornings—these are some of the 30-day challenges I’ve done in the past year. They’re small activities that usually just take maximum of 30 minutes a day.
Here’s what you get if you decide to embark on one (it’s the first day of June tomorrow, a 30-day month, so it’s a great time to start):
1. They’re fun.
You’re not forced to do them. They’re something you want to explore without having to devote your whole life. They are practice runs, appetizers, internships. There’s commitment but there’s also an end point.
2. They help you focus on progress, not perfection.
By doing something everyday, you silence your inner critic, editor, scolding teacher. During the middle part, when the excitement fades away, you know you have to get up and do the challenge anyway. It teaches you that it’s okay to just keep moving forward, that consistency matters more than perfection.
3. They push you.
Inherent in the phrase is the word “challenge.” These challenges mean that you’re adding something to your already full and busy life. It pushes you do something day after day, even when enthusiasm wanes. It builds resilience and makes you push past the discomfort of change. At the end of 30 days, you would have achieved something you never thought you could.
4. They help you learn more about yourself.
These challenges can be part of the data gathering process about what a meaningful life looks like to you. For example, if you do a 30-day yoga challenge, you can emerge wanting it so much that you’re researching on how to become a yoga teacher. Or you can decide it’s not for you. Committing 30 days of your life will give you more data about what YOU want for your life.
5. They help you become more confident in your ability to get things done.
Because you’ve made a commitment to yourself and seen it through, you then create a new story about yourself: You can achieve what you set out to do. You can keep promises. You can do what you never thought was possible. You can do whatever it takes for something meaningful for you.
So if you want to embark on your own 30-day challenge, here are some fun ideas to try.
This June, my own 30-day challenge is to reach out to one new person a day…even if I’m scared that my ideas will be laughed at or worse that I will be ignored.
