I’m drawn to the idea of 30-day challenges, probably due to my special blend of perfectionism and laziness. A month seems to be both a significant amount of time and a manageable amount of time.
I completed a Whole 30 one June (sorry again to anyone who had the unique displeasure of interacting with me during that time). I completed the Minimalists’ Game one January, albeit the remixed variety. Those experiences were rewarding, and helped jumpstart some long-term positive changes for me, so I’ve developed a fondness for month-long personal projects.
Case in point:
I wanted to stop watching TV when I was by myself, using that time instead for reading, writing, walks, cooking, chores, catching up with real live people, and sleep. I wanted to instead be a social TV watcher, using TV as a means of connection and companionship with real live people in real time. And I wanted to stop binge watching altogether, so that I could have more time to, you know, live my actual life.
Sounds like great plan for a month-long challenge, right? I certainly thought so.
Except that I completely forgot about it until the 6th.
When I realized my failure to launch the month-long challenge on the 1st of the month, I was so bummed that the only thing I wanted to do was watch all of the tiny house shows on Netflix. (There are a LOT of tiny house shows on Netflix, y’all.)
That obviously made me feel worse, and further crystallized my resolve to change my viewing habits.
Then I had a flash of insight -- a month-long challenge doesn’t have to line up perfectly with a calendar month. It just has to be 30 consecutive days!
(If this is where you’re saying “duh” and regretting reading this many words about something so obvious, I apologize. This thought was truly revolutionary for me. I’m not unaware of how sad that is.)
So instead of binge watching terrible television solo for the rest of the month, I started my month on the 7th. And I went a full month abiding by my new rules for TV, plus a few extra days because I hadn’t realized the month was technically up.
And then, I watched some Planet Earth while folding some laundry because Planet Earth is dope and folding laundry can be tedious and because I had strengthened my self-control muscle enough over the course of the challenge to trust I would turn it off when the episode was over.
And a challenge doesn’t even have to be a month at all! A week, 3 days and then a total epic fail of a lapse and then 3 more days… whatever! I can start, and restart, and re-restart, right now. And now. And now.
What 30-day challenge are you hoping to try? Why wait til the 1st?