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!

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.

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!

It’s tough, but I’m going to do it. I’d just be spending that time watching Simspons and Seinfeld re-runs anyway.

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.

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.

My goal is to not browse the web at work for non-work-related reasons for the next 30 days.

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.

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.

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!

Let’s go!

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.