Why You Should Embark on a 30-Day Challenge and How To Stick With It

This article could stop at just telling you to take a 30-day challenge, but I’d like to give you a few more parameters and share a few 30-day challenge ideas you can do if you don’t have any ideas of your own.

If you want to watch a video version of this article, here you go, friend:

 

What I’ve learned about 30-day challenges

What I’ve learned from doing multiple 30-day challenges is that it’s rarely about the daily task and more about what comes from a month of doing something consistently.

My first 30-day challenge was a social media detox. My only intention with that challenge was to stop my obsessive use of Facebook and Twitter. But during those 30 days something unintended happened: I came up with an idea to monetize the podcast I co-hosted, which resulted in over $40,000 in revenue. Talk about an awesome by-product of a 30-day challenge!

You can make profound changes in your life in just 30 days.

A few years ago I set out track my sleep better by committing to wearing and checking a Jawbone UP for 30 days. For 10 days I went to bed at 11pm. Then for 10 days I went to bed at midnight. And for the last 10 days I went to bed at 1am. Not an outrageous 30-day challenge right? What I found during that experience was that I got my best night’s sleep if I went to bed at 11pm or 1pm. However, if I went to bed at midnight, I had a terrible night of sleep and woke up feeling groggy. We all know how important sleep is, so to be able to learn more about my own sleep cycles in just 30 days was huge.

 

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The Key To A Successful 30-Day Challenge Is Doing Something Achievable

We all want to lose weight (well, 99% of us). We all want to get better at some skill (writing, reading, exotic carpentry, etc). We all have something we want to improve, but it likely never gets improved because we swing for the fences.

Focus on doing something small each day of your challenge

Ideally, your 30-day challenge task should take less than an hour each day. In fact, I’d recommend picking something you can do in 10-15 minutes per day, especially if you’ve never done something consistently for 30 days before.

Example: If you want to exercise more and get in shape during a 30-day challenge, don’t try an entirely new crazy workout plan. It requires too much will power and you’ll never stick with it (sorry, that’s real talk). Instead, aim for doing 10-15 minutes of exercise at the same time each day for 30 days. Don’t do P90x, Insanity, or any of those things. Do some pushups, chair dips, air squats, climb some stairs, or go for a moderate jog. But keep it at 10-15 minutes per day and use your will power to do it consistently for 30 days straight.

It’s human nature to go to extremes. But extremes are rarely where progress is actually made.

Getting better, honing a skill, or losing weight (in this case), comes with consistency and repetitive effort.

If you’re going to remove something, you must fill the void

30-day challenges are great for creating new habits, but if you plan on trying to quit something, you must replace the thing you’re quitting with something else.

Example: Let’s say you want to improve your diet and lose weight over the next 30 days. Because you know we need to focus on small achievable tasks, you’re only going to cut soda out of your diet. You aren’t going to start eating paleo, bulletproof, the zone, or any other huge diet changes. Instead, you’re going to quit doing one thing that contributes to weight gain (drinking soda) and leave everything else in your diet exactly the way it is for 30 days. Now, you’re probably used to drinking soda during meals or with snacks throughout the day. Don’t just quit soda and go straight to water, replace soda with something like Lacroix, Perrier, or coffee/tea (not sweetened tea or sugary coffee drinks, sorry). By creating a replacement for soda, your chances of sticking with quitting it will become exponentially higher in 30 days. I’d be willing to bet the imaginary farm I don’t own that if you drink soda right now and quit it over the next 30 days, you will lose weight and you will feel better.

No matter what you are trying to quit in 30 days, there has to be something to replace the thing you’re removing or you’ll fall back into your old habits. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can create new habits and get rid of (bad) old ones if you use the remove/replace method.

Some type of measurement during your 30-day challenge is good, but not necessary

I’ve found that my most successful 30-day challenges don’t involve strict measurement. The more things I add to my plate while trying to do something consistently for 30 days, the less likely it is that I’m actually going to stick with it.

Example: Let’s say you want to commit to doing a 30-day writing challenge. Well, you may want to write 1,000+ words per day, but in all likelihood measuring how much you write each day will sap all your will power and become a point of difficulty when you sit down and try to write each day. Instead, create a minimum for yourself, something like 200 words (which should only take you 10-15 minutes to write – ah ha, see what I did there?). Sit down at the same time each day for 30 days, and write a minimum of 200 words on a pre-determined topic of your choosing (or no topic at all, just vomit your thoughts via the keyboard). What will happen is that you’ll find yourself writing 750 words, 1,000 words, maybe even 2,000 words on some days. But because you don’t have the pressure of a bigger daily number staring you in the face that you need to keep measuring against, you can actually get your daily challenge accomplished.

We live in a measurement society. To actually accomplish things, it’s important to ignore these metrics at times. Plus, you can always start to analyze and measure things during your second 30-day challenge after your first one.

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30-day Challenge Ideas You Can Steal!

Maybe you have your own idea of what you want to challenge yourself to do? If so, great, go ahead and skip this section. If you don’t, or just want some inspiration, here are a few ideas:

• Take a social media detox
• Create a 200-word minimum daily writing challenge
• Quit drinking soda
• Run 1 mile per day
• Read 20 pages of a book (in 30 days, that’s 2-3 full books)
• Whiten your teeth
• Email 3 customers per day, thank them, ask how you can help them
• Take a 15 minute walk without technology
• Replace coffee with tea
• Buy a sleep tracker and try three different bed times
• Go vegan
• Get rid of one item in your closet per day
• Spend 10-15 minutes learning CSS, HTML, Javascript, etc

These are just a few ideas. It’s likely you already have something in mind you’d like to do during a 30-day challenge.

Just remember: Do something achievable!

My favorite 30-day challenge: Social Media Detox

A couple times a year I take a break from social media. For 30 days I don’t use Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc (I quit Facebook in 2016). All of the social apps will be removed from my phone (all but Instagram currently are) and I consciously replace the time I’d spend on these social networks reading books, writing, working on my various projects, or doodling in my journals.

I highly believe in the process of taking breaks and I also believe that social media is the next big addiction.

Make your 30-day challenge public!

I’d love to share YOUR 30-day challenge right here in this article! Simply send me an email through the contact page with what 30-day challenge you’re going to embark on. Please note these three simple things if you want your challenge shared here:

1. Include your first and last name
2. Try to keep your challenge description to 140 characters (length of a tweet)
3. Acknowledge that I will use your first name and last initial if I share your challenge

By sharing your 30-day challenge publicly, you’ll be taking a huge step in being accountable to yourself and sticking with your challenge. That’s a great motivator and why I share my own 30-day challenges publicly!

Here are folks who’ve opted to share their 30-day challenges:

“For the longest time, I would set hopeful New Year’s Resolutions like everyone else. And for the longest time, I would inevitably forget what my goals were, much less follow through on them. I’m doing 12 side projects in 12 months.” – Yunzhe

“I have a 30 day challenge, I’m leaving Facebook. I have done this in the past but it has always sucked me back in. I’m starting today and hopefully it will never end. At least for now it’s 30 days.” – Dave E.

“My 30 Day Challenge is to set aside 2 hours a day – 1 hour for exercise and 1 hour for reading – the goal is to lose at least 7lbs and read 4 books.” – Paul S.

“I will be doing a 30 Day Challenge of a Social Media Detox. Difficult is an understatement, I connect, teach, and work in social media.” – David K.

“You’ve inspired me to do another 30-day quest. This time it’s a fitness goal. I’m a dancer, so at 60, I still feel and look pretty good, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so I am planning to workout. I already walk everyday, so I’m going to add this additional activity. 20 minutes daily for the next 30 days.” – Samela

“For the next 30 days I’m going to read an hour daily.” – Joel A

“Sometimes the chaos of the day catches up to my family and we run out of time to read at bedtime. My 30-day challenge will be to read with my kids every single night, without fail, for 30 days.” – Diandra A

“My 30-day challenge is to read a classic book for 30 minutes each day. First ‘Frankenstein’ and then ‘Heart of Darkness.’ There’s isn’t a day better than today, so my dates will be from November 24th to December 24th.” – Aaron O.

“I’m doing a 30 Day Mobility and Stretching Challenge. Jiu Jitsu and lifting have destroyed my flexibility and mobility.” – Brendan H.

“Upon coming home from work and on weekends, instead of first pouring a glass of wine, I will use my rowing machine for 10 mins each day!” – Tami F.

“I have gotten into a bad habit of grabbing fast-food on my way home from work. Although I do not do it everyday, it is more often than I would like. I am challenging myself to stop eating fast-food for the month of December.” – Amy G.

“Spend 15 minutes coloring in a coloring book at the end of the day instead of reading on my phone.” – Devin P.

“Read a chapter of a book and journal for 30 days.” – Alyssa C.

“For 30 days, I will write a minimum of 200 words every day on a novel (not necessarily just 1 novel) and I will be doing this from Nov 27th – Dec 27th.” – Tina C.

“I commit to 10 minutes of physical activity daily for 30 days starting 11/24. It’s a tiny goal, but I know it will make a big difference!” – Helena M.

“My challenge is to read 20 pages every day for the next 30 days. My dates are: November 23 through December 23.” – Anna K.

“My 30-day challenge is to exercise 10-15 minutes per day (November 24 – December 24).” – Alex H.

“My 30 day challenge is to step away from all forms of electronics by 8:30pm every night for 30 days. TV, phone, computer, iPad.” – Jen M.

“I’m going to read 10 pages of a book each day from December 1 to January 1.” – Alice C.

“My 30 day challenge – Do not hit the snooze button when waking up.” – Mark G.

“No sugary foods or drink! No adding sugar to coffee or eating dessert for 30 days. A total sugar detox.” – Roderick S.

“My 30 day challenge will be improving my Russian speaking and if possibly writing/reading skills. My goal is 10-15 minutes a day focusing on reawaken my skills I have lost from my speaking Russian as much as I should.” – Dmitry Y.

“After a long trip relying on social media as communication, it’s time to get away. I plan to find my next adventure in these 30 days.” – Chad K.

“I am already doing around 30 minutes exercise and will build up slowly to 1 hour in the next 30 days. I’m also going to read 1 hour a day every morning from 7am to 8am. I’ll read non fiction business and biography books.” – Paul S.

“My 30-day challenge is to work on my script, The Fantastic Santa Monaco from November 23-December 23rd for 1 hour per day.” – Alexia A.

“I will be doing a series of strength work (specifically focusing on abs, arms, and back) with each workout at 6pm every day. The exact workout routine will change slightly day to day as I adjust to what my body needs and where weaknesses come up.” – Joel V.

“#30DayChallenge I plan on writing (at least 200 words) every day, and turning two of those each week into Blog posts.” – Seth M.

“I’m going to watch two videos from zenva.com to learn about iOS games, apps, and Swift. I purchased the complete mobile game development course. I’m going to do this at 4:30pm weekdays and 10am weekends.” – Shannon C.

“As of today, November 24,2015, I will exercise for 15 minutes daily. This will include walking, light jogging, jumping jacks, jumping rope, etc.” – Shon E.

“Starting 11/27 my 30 day challenge will be a social media detox. I’ll fill that time with reading and business planning.” – Michael G.

“List one item of clothing or jewelry a day on at least one of my ebay stores.” – Lyla B.

“Each morning from Dec 1 to Dec 31, I will call, text, or email someone important to me to catch up and say I care.” – Melanie M.

“Take a 30 minute walk in nature every day for 30 days.” – Amir A.

“From Nov 25 to Dec 24 I challenge myself to make the space to create with no excuses EVERY SINGLE DAY and will schedule the time to do it. Write/doodle/journal/draw/develop – No matter what – just create!” – Bec J.

“My 30 day challenge in prep for Kilimanjaro – 20 mins walking per day and no milky coffee!!!!” – Gill D.

“I’ll stay away from facebook for the next 30 days. I have done this before but never got so much out of it. This time i want to develop a habit of book reading.” – Sajan S.

“My 30-Day Challenge is to write no less than 200 words per day from December 1-December 30. With any luck (and conscious effort), that’ll turn into a habit that I will maintain (and surpass) going forward long after the 30 days is complete.” – Ben L.

“My 30 day challenge is to do daily character sketches to increase my skill in creating illustrations. I’m also doing daily writing and reading, as well as publishing weekly articles on medium.com.” – Robert B.

“I’ll be reading 20 pages on Human Centered Design for the next 30 days. Thanks for inspiring me to finally start getting into the pile of books next to my desk!” – Nick R.

“I am posting a daily journal on Medium on my first full month as a full-time entrepreneur.” – Amber M.

“My 30 day challenge is to write in my journal on a daily basis. It was a way to develop my writing skill but as a self-reflection. I want to know myself. I want to jot down my own thoughts and ideas.” – Sne N.

“I will invite three people daily to join my film society from Dec. 10 – Jan 10. I’m already in the middle of a personal year-to-live project with limited time remaining. Building an email list within 30 days brings an opportunity to go after what I want while creating the kind of life I can look back on with a sense of satisfaction.” – Nicole A.

“My 30-Day challenge is to help one person every day. Even if it’s just with a re-tweet or answering a question. I would like to connect to people more; I’ve been so busy lately.” – Violeta N.

“For the next 30 days I’m doing 2 things: Thing 1: no sugar based soda Thing 2: walking 1 mile a day 5 days a week.” – Lori G.

“I’m embarking on a 30-Day Challenge to write 250+ words per day, so I can launch my blog when the month is up.” – Pamela H.

“I’m going to try two different challenges: talking to my family about more than plans for at least 15 minutes each day, as well as reading one article of National Geographic each day.” – Casey R.