30–Day Challenge
By Aron Daniels
I recently watched a video on YouTube where a guy sets self-improvement goals for himself to take on new habits. His approach to it is 30-day challenges. He will pick 3 goals for himself that did not clash with each other to try over a 30-day period, to be consistent and see which ones were beneficial for him and that he wanted to continue with as part of his life.
I decided that I really like that idea and I have goals that I’d really like to have be part of my daily routine. So, here are my goals.
1 – Workout – I have really been struggling with this goal all year with my schedule and a combination of a lot of things that has made my fitness routine flop. I am doing something drastic with this one. I am going to be waking up at 5am Monday-Friday and hitting the 5:40 class over at Fit Body Boot Camp (also excited to hit some boxing classes over at Title in the mix!). Then by the time my brain is normally waking up, I will be two or three hours in to my day. The biggest hurtle to this one is my insomnia. I am hoping by making a drastic change it will force my body into a new rhythm and give me a break from my sleep problems.
2 – Food Tracking – This one will fit well with working out. I’ve never been hugely successful at calorie-counting and working out. I always have the will-power for one or the other. I think to combat this I am going to write down all my food and not calorie-count. It will help me just keep my brain on good-choices without the added hastle of all the specifics of the math.
3 – Business Communication Growth – My good intentions to be a good communicator and grow the magazines always comes down to me not having time. When I have a list of 20 ads, 35 articles, 3 logos, a brochure, 2 business cards, and 4 blog posts to get up, I become reactive rather than intentional. I do the most urgent work and then my emails I planned to write go on my list for tomorrow, again and again. Because I will be up earlier, I am going to write 10 quick emails to potential advertisers or people that I’m already connected with to see if they know people who may be good connections. If I can do 10 a day every business day between December 2nd and January 2nd minus holidays, that will be somewhere around 200 touchpoints that may lead to growth.
Alright, I put it out there publicly. Let’s hope I can give everything a solid month and see what changes stick and become positive differences in my life. I want to challenge you to do something with me. By the time the new year rolls around and people are just starting on their resolutions, you can already have a new habit built up. What do you say?