I was recently up in Whistler, British Columbia with my mastermind group setting goals for the next few months. This is something that I usually do every 3 months or so, as a way to continually make sure that I'm making progress in my life towards my ultimate vision. I was really thinking about my goals and asked myself the question, “What is something that, if I committed to doing it everyday for at least 30 days, would transform my life for the better?”
We are essentially made up of our habits. We are what we repeatedly do everyday – our rituals. And we have positive habits, that empower us and are aligned with our goals, and many of us also have some destructive habits that prevent us from having the success and happiness we want.
Most people don't know that it takes at least 21 days to create a habit, and most of us haven't consciously created the habits we currently have. We often just inherited habits from our peers or developed them at an early age. But, what if you could consciously create new habits that would compound over a period of time and transform your life?
What I ultimately decided to do is something called The 30 Day Challenge. The 30 Day Challenge is simply a way for me to challenge myself to consistently implement a new habit in my life everyday, until it becomes automatic. I created a video talking about my commitment and a bit more about The 30 Day Challenge I'm going through at the moment.
Watch The 30 Day Challenge Video below:
(Click here to watch the video on YouTube)
I challenge you to set a 30 Day Challenge for yourself as well. Let me ask you an important question:
What is something that you want to change in your life?
What are you unhappy with?
Or, what is something you'd like to add to your life that would enhance it?
Is it your physical body? Your health? Your finances? Your sleep? Reading a book? Spending less time on Facebook or watching TV? Going out and socializing? Cooking? Playing the guitar? Biting your nails? …
Whatever that area is, if you want to create a lasting change with it, you need to make a commitment to consistently condition yourself the way you want to be for at least 30 days for it to become habitual.
A 30 Day Challenge could simply be working on a new business or project everyday for at least an hour for 30 days. It could be going for a 15-minute walk everyday for 30 days. Meditiate everyday for 10 minutes for 30 days. Wake up at 6AM everyday for 30 days. No Facebook or TV for 30 days. Reading 10 pages of a good book for 30 days.
You get the idea, don't you?
If you actually FOLLOWED THROUGH and did those simple habits daily, what would your life be like? How would it be better? How would it affect the other areas of your life?
As mentioned in the video, I am personally committing to:
1) Drinking 1oz of wheat grass and vegetable juice daily for 30 days.
2) Doing my morning ritual everyday for 30 days.
Finally, find someone to be accountable to. If you're only accountable to yourself, it's so easy to cheat yourself and make up excuses. Find a good friend to do this with, or work out a deal that you're going to e-mail or text message them daily letting them know whether or not you did it. If you miss a day, have a consequence to give them $20. This will create more leverage on yourself to actually follow through and DO IT.
Aside from a consequence to create leverage, also find a reward. How will you reward yourself after the 30 days? What will you do for yourself to really reinforce this new behaviour?
If you decide to take me up on this challenge, I'd love to hear what you decide to commit to. Leave a comment below and let me know how it goes!