Join the Challenge
April 19th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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I’m pleased that many readers have already accepted the 30-day challenge (see the last paragraph of that post). If you’d like to join with us publicly, please express your interest by adding a comment (either on this post or the one mentioned above).
On May 20th we’ll do a group postmortem, so if you want to be done with your 30 days before then, you’ll need to begin within the next couple days (if you haven’t already started). For the postmortem I’ll make a new blog post that day which references the original challenge, and then we can all share our results by posting comments.
There’s no way to fail at this. Either you succeed, or you have a learning experience.
You didn’t think personal growth was only about reading and reflection, did you? At some point you have to take action, especially when success isn’t certain. So don’t be a cowardly lion — step up and make a commitment to get off your butt and join us in this challenge.
April 19th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Hey Steve, I’ll take you up on your challenge. I will post a message on my blog daily for the next 30 days. It has been real hard to do this even twice a week with my current schedule. You and your visitors can even check up on me.
Thanks for the motivation! Success begins today!
John
April 19th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
My 30 day challenge is to drink those pesky 8 glasses of water I day I hear so much about. I have a tupperware pitcher container that is exactly 64 ounces. I will fill it up each morning and be certain I’ve consumed all the contents by the time I go to bed.
April 19th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
I’m giving up a forum that I felt was consuming too much of my time for 30 days.
Just a side note:
-Steve, how many of these challenges would you say you can do in one 30 day period? I understand its all about will-power, but is it better to focus on just one challenge to get the best understanding of it or do you find yourself taking up two or three to save time. Especially ones which are in different areas of your life. e.g. One person could take up a challenge to exercise for an hour a day, and also another challenge that he keep a journal entry every day? Do you find the effectiveness drops when you do this challenge multitasking?
April 19th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Being an avid reader of Steve’s articles (thanks, Steve), I think I’ll participate in the 30-day challenge.
Effective today, I will go to bed by 12am (yes, it is a big deal for me). Furthermore, I will exercise no less than 3 times a week. I hope, I’ll stay on track until 05/19.
P.S. One thing I disagree about in the original article is the resolution to work out while being sick. As nice as it sounds, it is actually quite dangerous and may cause much more serious health problems. Consider having a fine print for a reasonable substitute activity (e.g. one of the non-sports activities).
April 19th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
I’m going to try to lose weight (I’m 14st 2lb now) by only eating when I’m hungry, and eating more vegetables.
April 19th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
@Scott: I prefer to handle just one challenge at a time for the 30-day period, especially if it’s a big one. But doing more than one is no problem, especially if they’re related, like diet and exercise. It’s better to complete one than to miss two or three though.
@Alexander: In later years I substituted yoga and stretching exercises for when I was sick or feeling symptoms of overtraining.
April 19th, 2005 at 3:04 pm
I thought I couldn’t begin with my daily exercises, even after posting here. But finally posting helped me to overcome my inital procrastination. I run three days in a row now!
April 19th, 2005 at 4:14 pm
Congrats, Daniel! Only 27 more days!
April 19th, 2005 at 4:59 pm
I’ve always wanted to get up early in the morning, but have so far not been able to do it for a sustained period of time. So my goal for the next 30 days is to get up at 7 am every day, and go to bed no later than 12 am (I know what you mean, Alexander
).
By the way Steve, I like this 30 day approach because it’s not a huge commitment and therefore a lot easier to stick to. I have always used a different method where I just decided to do something and then started doing it. But that method has had a huge rate of failure for me. Mainly because it’s so difficult to just start doing something, especially when you have a lot of pain associated with the task. However I did recently use it to start jogging, and after a few weeks it became a habit that’s hard to break now. So I’m looking forward to the result from this 30 day experiment, which I think will be positive for most people.
April 19th, 2005 at 8:24 pm
I’m joining too, I already started on monday, I’ll be eating my 5+ vegetable/fruit portions a day, no more red meats, only healthy stuff. I also started exercising (walking at full speed during 20 mins -3 days a week-/lifting weights during 40 mins -3 days a week-). Based on this challenge I started a new mini-challenge too, it is to look around the room, identify what needs to be cleaned/arranged, go for whatever utensil I may need, and start cleaning, but just for 10 minutes, no more no less, I have to do this every day, of course, but it’s resulting to be a very good way to keep a tidy room, soon all that will be left to be cleaned is my computer keyboard…
April 19th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
This is my first comment in this blog, though I am passionate reader almost from the very outset. Well, I should definitely accept this 30-day challenge in terms of NOT doing the following 3 things:
- I will not eat sweets (dessert, candies, chocolate etc.);
- I will not curse and use bad language;
- I will cancel my online forums addiction.
Thanks, Steve. You deliver very usefull, inspiring and interestin content. Keep it up!
April 20th, 2005 at 4:13 am
I think the 30 day trials are a superb idea. I’m going to trial book reading for an hour a day. I printed off a small calendar and I’m crossing off the days as I go along.
I encountered my first issue last night when, after watching the long running but otherwise excellent movie Vera Drake, I realised it was already past my bedtime and I’d yet to read my book (poor planning on my part I know). I forced myself to stay up late and complete a bleary eyed hour reading.
There’s no way I would have had this conviction had I not been running this trial. Similarly, I’ve realised that I must factor in the necessary time, otherwise I’m going to be tired at work the following day! Both of these are positive aspects of the 30 day trial in my opinion.
April 20th, 2005 at 7:26 am
* Exercise every morning for at least 20 minutes
* No more TV (ouch!)
* Read at least 30 minutes a day from the “books-I-want-to-read-when-I-have-time-but-with-this-attitude-I’ll-probably-never-start”-section. I’ll dive into Godel, Escher & Bach (finally!) as a start
Let’s go!
April 20th, 2005 at 8:30 am
Hey, Alexander and Ilya!
I’m joining your commitment to go to bed and get up early. For me “early” means going to bed at midnight and getting up at 9 a.m. Let it be Phase I.
Phase two should follow with 10 p.m for going to bed and 7 a.m. for getting up.
I’m also making a commitment to do my yoga exercises every day for the next 30 days.
Good luck to all the people who are joing Steve’s challenge!
April 20th, 2005 at 8:42 am
I like that many of you are pushing yourselves to take on multiple challenges during the next 30 days. You’ve even motivated me to upgrade from one to three. Here are my revised goals:
1) Run or bike at least 25 minutes or go for a 60-minute hike in the mountains every day.
2) Get up at 5am every morning, including weekends.
3) Write for at least 4 hours every single day, and don’t check email until I’ve done that.
April 20th, 2005 at 9:55 am
Just by coincedence I started running again this morning, so I’ll join the 30-day challenge starting today.
For the next 30-days I’m going to run every day for at least 30 minutes. It doesn’t matter how far I go, how much of it I walk vs. how much I run, or how fast my heart rate is. I just need to be there, on a treadmill for at least 30 minutes and in forward motion. Even if I feel like I’m sick, I’ll at least walk the whole 30 minutes if necessary. My goal is that by the end of the 30 days I’ll get so used to running regularly that it will feel uncomfortable to not go running. Like I’m missing something. Kind of like how you feel when you don’t brush your teeth or take a shower for an extended period of time.
April 20th, 2005 at 10:23 am
I actually am finishing up this weekend 60 days of writing morning pages (see Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way for info about these) every day (well, almost. I think I missed 3 days) and going to the gym and at least jogging for 30 minutes five times a week.
Now is the perfect time to start something else. My biggest struggle is a regular sleep schedule. So, starting Monday the 26th, I will do 30 days of getting up at 6:30 AM every weekday and exercising for at least 30 minutes, writing in morning pages, and a half hour of quiet time in reading scripture. I want to start my days off right.
April 20th, 2005 at 12:40 pm
I’m upgrading my goal too: besides doing pilates every day i will:
- eat at least one apple a day
- spend 45 minutes a day learning new things considering my work in computer design,by reading all the books and interactive cd-s I collected but never opened.
April 20th, 2005 at 11:38 pm
I think the idea of resolving to try something and stick with it for 30 days is a great one.
My goal is to not browse the web at work for non-work-related reasons for the next 30 days.
April 21st, 2005 at 8:51 am
There are lots of things I could do with this, but like Steve suggests, I’ll start with the physical. This will take the form of 30 mins daily exercise.
I’ve found this hard to fit into my day. Depending on the activity, I might need time to travel, change and shower in addition to the time actually spent doing useful exercise. The benefit to daily short workouts as opposed to longer, irregularly scheduled exercise is that it should be easier to maintain as a habit.
It’s my hope that this trial will help me find a way that works and turn it into a habit.
April 21st, 2005 at 8:57 am
Since a lot of others are doing multiple challenges, I’ll add another challenge to my list. For the next 29 days I’m going to spend at least 1 hour each day doing some kind of activity related to personal organization / personal productivity. (ala “Getting Things Done”, “Organizing From the Inside Out”, “First Things First”, etc.)
This means that for at least 1 hour each day, I’m either (a) planning and testing out any new “buckets” I want to set up, along with trying out ways to process these buckets and keep them functioning. Or (b) I’m cleaning out any existing buckets I already have (i.e. storage facility, email inbox, amazon shopping cart, stack of magazines, etc.) that I’ve neglected or need to fix.
April 21st, 2005 at 11:54 am
I pledge to break myself of a habit that I dare not say in public.
April 21st, 2005 at 12:19 pm
My 30 day challenge is to work out at the gym every day. I’ve been at it for 6 days now and I’ve got to say I do find it difficult to get out there every day (yesterday I didn’t get to the gym until 10pm, and I probably won’t get there till that time tonight too).
It’s tough, but I’m going to do it. I’d just be spending that time watching Simspons and Seinfeld re-runs anyway.
April 21st, 2005 at 5:09 pm
I’m vegetarian for 30 days starting Monday the 18th– no dead animal parts in my meals.
Already it has brought more awareness to my food choices and led me to making more creative choices without the standard meat-centered fare to reach for. Now salad is the filler when I can’t think of what else to eat!
April 23rd, 2005 at 12:52 pm
This is a fabulous site - i can’t believe I’ve just discovered it.
Steve - one of my issues is that when I get excited starting things like these, my mind tends to get overly ambitious and I am tempted to start a bunch of different initiatives. Do you think it’s okay to let myself start more than one trial? (provided the two are unrelated, to not feel overburdened - like exercising, and say, study for my GMATs at least an hour). Or do you think this might backfire an I should just stick to one?
Let me know
Thanks so much for your blog. You’re an inspiration.
May 9th, 2005 at 9:10 am
Jeni,
Brian Tracy says not overload yourself. The people who try to start 8 new habits simultaneously are the most likely to fail. But if you do 1 a month, after a year you will have 12 new habits. And in 5 years you will have 60 new habits. You could be a completely different person!