At the beginning of last month, I challenged myself to get up every morning at 4:45 and walk the dog. Both she and I need the exercise and it’s a much gentler way to wake up in the morning than being jolted into awareness by a hot shower or cup of coffee. This is the first time that I’ve tried a month-long challenge, an idea that I picked up from Matt Cutts. It was such a success that I’m working on a new 30-day challenge this month. No spoilers: apparently, telling other people your goal [SLYT] is a great way to ruin your motivation to complete it.
Instead, here is a list of 30-day challenges that I’m planning to attempt, many of which were inspired by Cutts’s list. Which one should I do next? What others do you recommend?
- write a page of text daily
- eat vegan
- get 8 hrs of sleep each evening
- give my partner a new compliment each day
- meditate for 30 minutes daily
- eat more slowly (take 10 seconds between each bite)
- remove the work email app from my phone
- stretch daily
- record 1 second of video per day
- stop reading the news
- play the ukulele daily
- draw a picture daily
- discover something new to be thankful for each day
- learn a new word daily
- take a non-selfie picture a day
- no facebook
- no refined sugar
- no caffeine
- no TV
- set a vacation message on my personal email
- get rid of one household item each day
The goal of each of these isn’t necessarily to learn a new skill or develop a new habit, but to see how I react to a concerted effort to change my daily routine. To spice things up. As I said, I’m working on one of these already for the month of September. I’ll let you know how it goes in a few weeks!