Best Order for Multiple 30 Day Challenges

[nati]

I have just recently found this website and it has had a great impact on me. Over the past year or so I have really been delving into personal development - primarily through books.

Reading the post on 30 day challenges really struck me and got me thinking of challenges that I want to undertake. I had previously been working on my mind, awareness, and consciousness, but now I want to focus on other things.

My question is around how to choose which 30 day challenges to do first and if there is an optimal order for success. I recall another post where Steve talked about eating healthier is probably better to do before trying to wake up early... I am wondering if there are other optimal orderings to keep in mind as I decide how to roll out the following:

1. Eat Vegetarian (I am now on a typical American diet - lots of processed foods and meats)
2. Wake up at 5:30
3. Exercise (I now do no exercise besides raquetball a couple times a month)
4. Meditate (rarely do I do this now)
5. Yoga
6. Speak to one stranger a day
7. Write in a journal
8. Carry a notebook everywhere I go

I am sure I will come up with plenty more as I proceed down my path of personal development, but any feedback or thoughts on the ordering of how to tackle the above 30 day challenges will be greatly appreciated...

Also, any tips, gotchas or things to watch out for on any of the above challenges will also be appreciated.

Thanks for all the great info Steve!!

[John P]

Having had personal experience at going vegetarian, I can say that it's important to do some research before you start it so that you know how to eat healthfully as a vegetarian. So I think I would take that approach to your list: Figure out which trials would be easy and simple to implement and do those first. Meanwhile, you can use that time to do some planning and research on the other trials to see how best to implement them.

So, just running through your list quickly, I think I'd go in this order:

Carry a notebook
Speak to a stranger (These would both be pretty simple and could be done at the same time.)

Write in a journal
Meditate
Wake up at 5:30 (These three are going to take a bit more planning - What time during the day are you going to write/meditate? Is 5:30 a significant jump for you?)

Eat vegetarian
Exercise
Yoga (These three will take the most planning - Figuring out a healthy veggie diet that fits into your schedule and budget. When are you going to exercise? What are you going to do? Where are you going to do yoga? Will that count as some of your exercise?)

Hope that helps

[nati]

Originally Posted by John P

Having had personal experience at going vegetarian, I can say that it's important to do some research before you start it so that you know how to eat healthfully as a vegetarian.

Any good resources on planning to convert to vegetarianism??

[Joeschmoe]

One of my favorite places for information is Vegsource.com
It's poorly designed, but there are a bunch of articles and lots of discussion groups to ask question. I'd say the Health and Fitness area of this forum is also a good place to browse and ask questions. You should just ignore the small spattering of devout meat eaters who might try to dissuade you.