Before I post about my February’s challenge, I thought I would give you some context as to where, what and why I do 30 day challenges in the first place. So here we go.
The Where?
The first time I came across the concept of a 30 day challenge was actually when watching a TED talk given by Matt Cutts (way way back, probably in 2014, maybe even before that) which I got very fascinated by!
You can watch his talk below but here is my curated version: it takes about 30 (some say 21) days for a new habit to form, so if there is something new that you’ve always wanted to try or get rid off in your life - you should try and do it every day, for the next 30 days.
And at the end of those 30 days - you can then always decide whether or not you want to keep on doing it (say, stay vegetarian) OR whether it’s just not for you. The most important thing is to STICK through those 30 DAYS. And if you can't then... (I'm not sure if he had actually given any advice on what to do if you don’t) - well, then you can always just ditch it or try it again another time :-)
I was very inspired by the whole approach and went on to do some research where I found a whole LIST of challenges (links below) that you could try every month, ranging from easy ones (like walking 10,000 steps a day) to extremely hard ones (like giving up smoking or practising yoga every day). So I thought to give it a shot myself.
The What?
Since I’ve always been into exercising, I managed to find a lot of fitness related challenges so I kicked off with a 30 day ab challenge in June 2014 which I really enjoyed and did a few times. I then went on to try other ones (even when I was backpacking in Southeast Asia)!
So far I've tried a:
- 30 day ab and squat challenge
- 30 day beach body challenge
- 30 day butt challenge
I’ve competed them all so I thought it was time to challenge myself to things that I struggled with or wanted to do more of. I can’t remember all the challenges I’ve tried in the last 3 to 4 years but here are some of the most recent ones that I’ve completed AND (F)ailed:
- No alcohol for 30 days ✅ (though think that was a VERY long time ago)
- Read a book chapter a day (F)
- Learn French for 30 days ✅
- Sleep for 8 hours a day (F)
- Help someone every day (F)
- Become a vegan for a month ✅ (I will write a post on that too!)
- Meditate for 10 min every day (F)
- No phone or laptop screens 30 min before bed (F)
- No social media apps on the phone for a month ✅ (and till today I still haven’t reinstalled Facebook app on my phone!)
- No meat or chocolate for a month (this was my February’s challenge so I will let you know how that went in my next post)
Some of these might sound extremely easy but it’s the routine and the discipline of doing something Every. Single. Day. what makes it very hard. And also when I miss a few days in a row I consider it a fail.
The Why?
A lot of these things (or habits) I genuinely would like to do more of in my everyday life, like read more, sleep more and better, meditate and so on.
With other things like being vegan for a month - I simply like the challenge element of it, see how far I can actually go. And most recently, Liam and I have incorporated these challenges into our relationship as well which is a lot of fun and also ends up being quite competitive… as there’s always a prize for the winner or a penalty for the loser.
E.g. In April last year we agreed on a “new language” challenge so I learned French and Liam learned Russian for the next 30 days. At the end of the month we tested each other and saw who remembered the most words and phrases. The loser had to cook a meal from the country of origin. Since Liam lost (only by 1 point though), he made a very traditional Russian dish called: golubci (i.e. stuffed cabbage rolls). Here’s the recipe from 
And here is Liam (
Not a bad turnout for golubci...
Major learning?
My main takeaway from doing all these 30 day challenges is that it’s actually
a lot easier to give something up than to start something new
So saying ’No’ to things that you've been doing in the past or all your life even (at least to me) ended up being a lot easier vs. trying to form an entirely new habit like meditate every day.
To wrap this up - here are a few sources for you with bunch of ideas for 30 day challenges:
- Hackerella: 100 30 Day Challenge Ideas
- Thoughtbrick: 100 30 Day Challenge Ideas
- Inc: 12 30-Day Challenges That Will Change Your Life
My favourite ones that I haven’t tried yet:
- Don’t lie for 30 days
- Don’t complain for 30 days
- Talk to a stranger every day
- Do something that scares you every day
- Experiment wearing a new outfit every day
- Watch a new film or a documentary every day
- Eat something you’ve never tried before for 30 days
And these 30 day challenges are still on my to-do list:
- Listen to an audiobook or a podcast every day
- Reconnect with an old friend every day
- Compliment someone every day
- Listen to a new song every day
Oh, and of course I wanted to see if there was anyone else here on Steemit who wrote about #30daychallenge and to my surprise I only came across 4 Steemians who I thought were great so feel free to check them out too.
1) 
2) 
3) 
4) And finally 
SO, guess that makes me #5 (or maybe I missed someone?). Either way, since I challenge myself every month or so - you will see me post about how these 30 day challenges went and what I’ve learned from them, with the first edition being February.
To be continued…
Have you ever tried a #30daychallenge and if so, what was it and how did you do? Like, share and comment below!
Love,
Inga x