How about an April challenge?

[Julia.Ru]

I'm a newbee here but I haven't seen any topics about 30-day trial challenges here. Are they still popular? Here's mine for April, anyway (btw, I'm creating habits this way for the first time). There are 5 habits:

1) get up right after the alarm-clock (must learn not to be late everywhere and I've discovered that staying in bed for too long after the alarm-clock is the only thing that prevented me from being puctual)

2) exercise at least 20 min every day (need to lose 5 kg)

3) don't eat for 2 hours before going to bed (again, those 5 kg. 4 hours used to help me much because this way you dicrease your appetite the next day. I wonder if 2 hours would work as 4 hours were a bit exhausting)

4) write 100 words of my new composition (want to participate in the contest for young writers that starts in September)

5) do special exercises for my back (I have some problems with it. This habit, however, will last for 2 months because I'll do this exercise routine every other day. Perhaps, it's a violation from the challenge rules, but I'd like to follow my doctor's prescriptions).

That's all! You may join me if you wish!!

P.S. Shame on me if I fail!

[pinkhighlighter]

I quite like this idea. I normally set monthly goals for myself anyhow.

Lately mine are health related so I will just stick to those:

1. Lose inches on my stomach (I have lot about 4 in recent months but being very lazy the past few weeks one or two may have crept back). I don't have very many to lose, so I will say I want to lose 2.

2. Eat more fruits and veggies. I hate most fruit, so I don't try very hard there. But since this weekend I have been adding a plate of raw carrot, celery and red pepper to my daily foods. I eat them with a little bit of salad dressing and they are delish. I want to keep this habit going.

3. Workout for 20-30 minutes 5 days a week.

4. Improve my posture. Maybe include some yogo into my workouts to help with this.

[newdad]

I am eager to take up a challenge. I have actually begun amy own physical challenge and I'm going to start a 30-day trial for my finances starting on the 1st.

I think this is the perfect time of year to begin something new. New Year's day, when everyone makes there resolutions, is just an arbitrary date. Spring is coming and the whole world begins a new, so why shouldn't we? Check out, "Spring is the time for Renaissance."

I will be posting weekly updates on my 30-day trials. Feel free to comment on your own or send my an email at jonathanpippenger@gmail.com if you want to contribute a posting of your own.

[Julia.Ru]

Hi, how's life? I've decided to drop a line about these three days of my challenge. First, I just want to do it and second, maybe someone will benefit from reading my notes just to know how people usually go through challenges like this.
So, the first day - Sunday - was easy and great. Btw, I didn't even EXPECT that the challenge would turn out almost a triffle for my self-discipline that had been untrained for ages. Of course, the tasks require some effort but I don't feel they are enourmous as I supposed them to be.
Second day - had to go to work, felt worse, nagging thoughts that all this is just 'pointless' appeared, but at the end of the day I felt I was still on the right track.
Third day - work plus soar throat plus a temperature a bit above normal. Woke up feeling not well, thoughts about giving up, but suddenly felt a burning desire to do my work out (one of the tasks), so I got up immediately (another task completed) and did the exercises. Unfortunately, during all the day, almost EVERY MINUTE nagging thoughts 'pointless, pointless, pointless' didn't leave my mind But at least today I won't give up - I decided to spend this month like a robot, going through the challenge without much thinking. I know I have to do it with a mindset of a robot to prevent any distracting thoughts, any questioning if all this is right, otherwise I'll fail soon, I know myself.

P.S. Before going to bed I have one more task to complete - write 100 words of my composition. Btw, I'm writing about my washing-machine My sister recommended it for brainstorming ideas for my future composition. I think it's wise and is going to work. Good night!

[jag]

Hi Julia,

Every one in this forum kind of keeping and setting goals, may be not posting in the forum.

Here go, my goal for April.

1. Wake up morning between 5:00 and 5: 30 AM

2. Gym : 6:00 to 6:30 AM

3. Meditation and Prayer: 7 to 7:30 AM.

4. Office 8:00 to 5:00 PM

5. Dinner- 8:30 to 9:00 PM

6. Get MCTS (Microsft tech. specialist) certification. I love in learning new stuffs and getting a certificates.

7. Give money of $700 for charity purpose in this year.

8. what else stick to above .


I will post you guys, how it go coming days.

Cheers.
Jak.

[Jes]

My goal for April is to train myself to wake up and got to bed the same time at least four days a week. I feel like without having a set bed/wakeup time, I'm not getting anything done.

[newdad]

Keep it up Julia,

Start looking for the immediate rewards that come from what you are doing. Have you been more punctual since you started getting up early? I've found an instant reward in getting up early. I knock out most of my goals for the day before work even starts.

I too suffer from back problems. I found that within the second week of 30-day exercise program that I was feeling better. The walk downstairs in the morning is still painful, but by the time I have finished exercising I walk back up the stairs with maybe 1/10 of the pain. Another immediate reward and reason to keep going.

Look for these, Julia, and stick with it.

[Haris]

1 - Wake up at the intended time and just before the alaram goes off.

2 - Exercise regularly for an hour.

3 - Stop the habit of eating too much.

4 - Be conscious about my other responsibilities.

5- Complete all my to-do tasks on time.

[Julia.Ru]

I hope the moderators wont get angry with me for frequent posting in this thread

Originally Posted by newdad

Keep it up Julia,

Start looking for the immediate rewards that come from what you are doing. Have you been more punctual since you started getting up early? I've found an instant reward in getting up early. I knock out most of my goals for the day before work even starts.

I too suffer from back problems. I found that within the second week of 30-day exercise program that I was feeling better. The walk downstairs in the morning is still painful, but by the time I have finished exercising I walk back up the stairs with maybe 1/10 of the pain. Another immediate reward and reason to keep going.

Look for these, Julia, and stick with it.

Hi, newdad, how is your challenge going?
Little progress is always a reward and the main reason to keep going. But in my case it's often been that after not getting results I gave up soon. So to go through this challenge I programmed myself not to seek for any results or rewards, but just go on like a stupid robot even if all seems totally pointless. However, I got some results. I've never been late to my work! And, moreover, now I have that necessary time in the morning for doing the exercises.

As for my back - before the challenge I could sit maximum for 10 min., then it felt as thought my back had been set on fire. It went on like that all day long, so I even took medicines when it was too unbearable. Today I noticed that I didn't have any pain while I was going by bus (and it takes 25 min) and it was more or less bearable during the day. And I think everyday work out pretty much added to the result, not just the back exercises alone.

Writing is also ok, though I stopped describing the washing machine and proceded to the refridgerator

These days the word "pointless" doesn't occur to me every minute, but on the whole I still consider all what I've started quite pointless no matter of the results. That's why I know only "a mindset of a robot" will help me keep it going. Good luck to anyone!

P.S. On the whole, it' s an easy challenge

[Julia.Ru]

One thing I wanted to ask those of you who often go through these challenges: what days are the hardest and what are the easiest, and what are your thoughts like during different periods?

[CoachChar]

I have taken Steve's excellent 30 Day Trial and started a challenge on my blog, CoachChar.com. Why reinvent the wheel when Steve came up with an excellent concept that works so well?

I'm calling it Coach Char's "Change-A-Habit Challenge". So far 3 readers have signed up to officially participate. We're on day 9, but anyone is welcome to join anytime they want. Pick any number of habits you want and make them specific to fit your priorities and preferences. I chose 3 habits for my first challenge:

1. 25 minutes or more of walking, running, or jogging outdoors PLUS extra time to properly stretch, warm up and cool down
2. At least 1 blog entry per day
3. Taking my multi-vitamin supplement each day

I'm writing an update blog at the end of each week and an overall summary at the end of the 30 days. I posted the first week's update on Sunday, 4/22. It's going well and I'm already seeing results and having powerful insights. Some days are easier than others.

If you want a tracking sheet to record your progress, I posted one on my site. Go to the link in the previous sentence and click "Get the tracking sheet". Feel free to use it in your own challenges.

Take care and let's continue to support each other in our goals!
Char

[jag]

Hi to all,

These are results from April challenges.
Please comment if you feel to write.

1. Surprisingly, I able to wake up continuosly at 5:00 AM.
Dude, keeping alarm clock far distance helped me to keep the early raiser habit for one week, then not really used alarm clock.

2. Got MCST SQL Server 2005 certificate with highest score.

3. Went to GYM and did meditation most of the days, but not all days in April. Need concentration
Please help me guys to stick with this one.

4. Office in and out, I made it couple of days, but not went great.
How to get in and get out office on time ? please throw some lights.


Cheer to all and wish you all happy days coming.

Thanks,
JAK

[Julia.Ru]

Originally Posted by Julia.Ru

My April challenge was meant just for training my self-discipline, for finding out if I

still had it. Now I have to share the results.

1) get up right after the alarm-clock (must learn not to be late

everywhere and I've discovered that staying in bed for too long after the

alarm-clock is the only thing that prevented me from being puctual)

All done. But it was easy. I work from 1PM, so I had to get up either at

10.30AM or 11AM (depending on the sort of workout I was going to do before

going to work).

2) exercise at least 20 min every day (need to lose 5 kg)

Skipped the 28th of May. When I was ready to do the exercises, everybody has

already fallen asleep. That didn't prevented me from doing them when it was the

beginning of the challenge (and I'd say it's not an easy matter to do workouts

without music and in complete dark ), but on the 28th day I thought 'to hell with

it!' (I did the 29th and the 30th days though). Those exercises got me - it was too

booooring to do them every day! However, all this lead to strong desire to do

workouts 3 times a week.

3) don't eat for 2 hours before going to bed (again, those 5 kg. 4 hours

used to help me much because this way you dicrease your appetite the next day. I

wonder if 2 hours would work as 4 hours were a bit exhausting)

All done. But I realized that 2 hours=0 hours, so in May I won't be eating for 4

hours before going to bed (I know it works).

4) write 100 words of my new composition (want to participate in the

contest for young writers that starts in September)
All done. But it was uninteresting. My sister suggested brainstorming - so, for 21

days I was sitting in the kitchen and writing about washing machines and

micro-ovens. Surprisingly, just on the 22th day it struck me that I could write

about my future composition - describe characters, conflicts, etc. That was

exciting for some time. It's a pity I didn't manage to make up the plot.

5) do special exercises for my back (I have some problems with it. This habit,

however, will last for 2 months because I'll do this exercise routine every other

day. Perhaps, it's a violation from the challenge rules, but I'd like to follow my

doctor's prescriptions).

All done. This is a very necessary habit and I'm proud I could do it as it was

terribly hard ecause my back muscles were too feeble. This habit continues till

June 1st, as I said, and I must confess I could do it only because of the challenge

(otherwise I'd find a lot of excuses not to do it every other day).

So, all in all, this challenge wasn't in vain, I even became more optimistic in

general. I'll do one more challenge in May, but then, probably, I'll drop this idea.

P.S. I was eager to hear about the hardest and easiest parts of your challenges.

Mine are: 1-5 (hard, depressing, seems pointless, want to give up), around the 7th

(got accustomed more or less), 9-12 (fine!), 15-18 (hard, pointless, sometimes

thoughts of giving up), after that - thoughts about whether I shoud drop it or not,

whether all this is right or wrong never even occured to me.

P.P.S. One thing about habits being on autopilot. The idea is pretty clear for

everyone, but I've learnt what it really means. Being on autopilot means 2 things:

no resistance and paying no attention to what you are doing. It's like switching off

the light: you know you need to do it, so you just come up to the wall and push the

button. You need no force to do it and a moment later you don't even remember

that you did it