Forget the 30 day challenge – how about the rest of your life challenge to make REAL positive changes!
Although it’s not unique to January, the new year time does inspire an influx of challenges designed to be done over a short period of times.
Some of the things I’ve seen this month:
- 30 push-ups for 30 days,
- Walk 100 miles in January,
- Virtual walk of Mount Kilamanjoro
- Dry January,
- And WordPress’s very own challenge Bloganuary.
All challenges start with good intentions – get in shape, be more active, drink less, write more… and if that works for you to kickstart you making some positive changes that will overhaul your lifestyle in the long term for the better, then no one can hate on that.
But my concern considers – what happens after the challenge is over?
Do you keep up to your daily push-ups, do another late nighter to get your blog post out, or your 10,000 steps in?
The problem with daily challenges
Challenges that require daily action, or an intense amount of work/activity in a short period of time is a recipe for injury and/or burnout.
And when that happens the result is you will have to stop the habit you insisted on slogging yourself silly over, with a good probability when you’ve recovered, you’ll be back to your old ways.
If you do make it through the duration, then the other alternative is that you stop altogether, as you achieved your goal by proving the point that you could endure it and achieved the end goal without any thought to what next.
People start Dry January with some sort of self-awareness that they drink too much, but if you know this, isn’t it better to make a permanent commitment to drink less all year round, or take a more sustainable approach to achieve sobriety?
Doesn’t the point of the month get lost if come 1st February you celebrate your month of not drinking alcohol with a big blow out?
Your body and mind needs recovery
I’ve been going to the gym for over 20 years. I didn’t start this habit off by going all in throughout January, actually once I lost the excess weight, and the novelty of going wore off, I would train no more than twice a week.
It wasn’t enough to make progress, but kept me maintained with a regular habit that was a normal part of my life as something I do. It wasn’t something I excelled in, but it kept me going until I got to a position where I realised I wanted to take it seriously and started going 3-5 times a week.
Now as a man in his forties, with responsibilities and a body that takes that little bit longer to recover, taking on a fitness challenge without proper build up and planning would finish me off.
Instead I keep to a consistent three times a week to allow myself time to rest – it’s during that time my body repairs the stress I put my muscles through each week, getting stronger, better and ready for the next gym session.
Likewise your mind needs a break too, writing everyday to meet the Bloganuary not only results in a sludge of phoned in blog posts being put out, but burns out your creativity.
It’s no coincidence my best periods of blogging have come at times in my life when I feel my creativity hasn’t been satisfied.
When it comes to blog writing you shouldn’t be so output focused to tick a box, write nonsense without plans to publish, allow yourself to not always be working, get bored, sit and do nothing, read a bit, watch TV, get some sleep… whatever.
So what’s the alternative?
The Perfect Manifesto proposed alternative is to focus on setting a system aimed at achieving long term positive change, than short term dopamine hit “I did it!” challenges.
This approach is underpinned by demonstrating the following values in whatever you look to achieve
Be determined
Whatever you want to do, approach it with purpose day-in day out.
This doesn’t mean going over the top.
It doesn’t mean you have to do it everyday.
It means whenever you work towards your goal you approach it with purpose – avoid going through the motions and commit to change.
Have a vision
Have a clear purpose why you do it.
What is making you want to do the change?
What do you want to get out of it?
How will it make your life better?
And most important… what is the long term vision that will drive you to keep going with your lifestyle change beyond a week?
Set routine
Be consistent in what you’re doing – avoid fads, or get over consumed with information overload and thinking you need to constantly mix up what you’re doing.
If you don’t, it will make it extra hard to compare progress.
If you’re wanting to do more pressups, commit to a set routine, and do them.
If you want to publish more blog posts, set a time a few times a week you plan to write.
Be persistent
When you first start doing something, you’ll start to notice a difference.
And when you’ve being doing that same thing a while the improvement might not be as obvious, sometimes it might even feel like your getting worse!
Don’t let this visible lack of growth put you off your purpose, when you get inconsistent with your routine you really will impact your progress.
This is why it’s so important to keep your goal manageable, doing less now makes it easier to become a persistent habit over the long term (which you can slowly build up to do more as you desire).
If you want to start that blog. Don’t start it the wrong way by writing everyday in January, commit to writing every fortnight and see what happens.
If you want to get in shape, don’t attack the gym throughout January, stick to working out 45 minutes 3-4 times a week for a year.
Learn from it
We may not know the meaning of life, but there is one thing every self-aware person working towards a goal should know:
You will never know enough
No matter how good you are, how much you master your craft, there are still lots of things you can learn.
Reflect on the progress you’ve made – think what works for you, and what isn’t, work to change the latter.
Utilise resources at your disposal to continue your education and keep striving for more results.
Focus on high quality information – use trusted sources, trusted people, people you look up to, and avoid the wider noise of information overload that can make you feel insecure, lose focus and make you feel the need to change up something that isn’t broken.
Your pursuit of continued learning and reflection will support your good habits, build stronger foundations and help you achieve your goals.
What is the alternative to setting a challenge?
To recap:
- A short term challenge could be a positive thing, if it leads to you adopting a positive habit long term
- But due as these challenges focus on pushing you to the limit the possibility of getting burnt out or injured increases.
- Rather than focusing on a one and done short period of time challenge telling you to go all in, focus on small consistent habits you can do on a regular basis, and build up slowly as you come more comfortable in your routine.
- Think long term – it’s better to do small steps you can manage, than doing everything, everyday that quickly becomes a burden.
To conclude
When it comes to making positive changes, avoid setting yourself a high stress challenge, your mind and body needs time to repair.
If you want to change something about your lifestyle, focus on quality over quantity.
Short-term challenges, short-term results… I could go on…
So come on, ditch the 30 day challenge, and take the rest of your life challenge to make real, positive, change!
Wishing you the best in your success
James @Perfect Manifesto
Perfect Manifesto 
Hi, I usually read without comment, but this is a subject close to my heart.
In this age where instant gratification seems to be the norm, I think you are opening a vital dialogue.
I’m a firm believer in routine, consistency and the power of setting achievable short-term goals to achieve healthy, long-term effects.
In my case, life-long routines that started in childhood eg reading, regular exercise, the need for purpose and productivity, moderation and learning from my mistakes have gotten me through some really difficult times.
In other words, great things don’t happen in 30 days, they take time.
I’ve been using this mantra for years in almost every area of my life, especially when it involves areas where I feel personal change or growth is necessary for my well-being.
I’m fortunate enough to be extremely self-motivated, I don’t require external validation, but even the most motivated individuals can be affected by external factors beyond our control.
My advice is always this:
Examine your motivation for change.
Get real – ensure the goal is achievable, don’t set yourself up for failure.
Think about why and how you have failed to achieve goals in the past – pre-emt the pitfalls and consider how to navigate them.
In almost every aspect of life, the things most worth having are difficult to achieve, but slow, steady and the right approach to any challenge will always prevail.
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Hi thanks for taking the time to share your views.
Great advice for anyone reading the comments, ‘examine your motivation for change’ is such an important place to start and understand why you’ve been motivated for change – beyond looking at an Instagram influencer who shows a before and after photo as the result of doing pressups for 30 days!
Slow, steady is such the right approach, what inspired me to write this post was through my own experiences of try to get instant gratification from short term effort (only thing I did get was exhausting myself/getting tendon injuries!)
Thank you for your comment!
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