I am definitely one who prefers a more flexible system. The thought of starting the trial over every time I'm a few minutes short or have an extremely busy day and miss that day makes me feel like refusing to do it at all. When I spend too much time forcing myself to do things I don’t want to do, I tend to get cranky. The trick is to find ways to want to do things.
With things like exercise, writing, and playing horn, for me it works best to commit to a small amount of time, like 5 or 10 minutes. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculously short, but that is the point. Even if I am in a rare grumpy mood and don't want to do anything, 5 minutes is small enough that I can get started. Several times I have been tired late at night and thought, "I still need to play horn today. I'll do my 5 minutes and then go to bed." I start playing horn, 5 minutes pass, I decide I want to finish the exercise I'm on, and an hour later I realize I've had a great practice session.
If I occasionally miss a day and only make 27-28 out of 30, I'm still way ahead of where I would have been if I hadn't done the challenge at all. Not only that, but I feel that I'm still forming habits. After completing the 30-day challenge, my day seems "wrong" if I haven't yet spent some time writing, playing horn, and exercising.
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