Why a 30 day challenge?

Hello! Happy March.

Today marks the beginning of the month but most importantly the beginning of a new 30 day challenge.

30 day challenges are a big thing here in the blogosphere. They are easy content fodder. Throw down a challenge invite the readers and let the competition begin.

I’ve seen some really good ones and some that don’t quite make sense. Of course the best ones for me are the ones that rile me up enough to join the group. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s home, food or personal almost anything seems to be able to be boiled down to a good ol’ 30 day challenge.

But why is it that so many of us are migrating to this method?

Benefits of 30 day challenges

I think there are a few reasons. At least its why I do it.

• Its not overwhelming. First it’s a great way to push outside of our comfort zone but the fact that its a limited amount of time makes it seem more doable. I’ve read multiple people say anybody can do anything for just 30 days.  The finite amount of time seems to sit well with us. Plus most of us suffer from being really really busy. Or maybe we are afraid of commitment? either way we can manage finding time for JUST 30 days.
• Its Urgent. The limited amount of time helps to not make it overwhelming. But it also leads to a sense of Urgency! You don’t have forever to do it, so you’ve got to get it done. Purging things is something I’ve done for a long time. Its a way of life when you move cross country every 6 months. But the clutter that built up after not moving for 2 years was giving me anxiety. Still the process was moving rather slowly. Then I stumble across the Minimalists and their #minsgame. It made a big difference. Going through the game provided that sense of urgency that I seemed to be lacking. The results were so good, I took the challenge several times last year. The 30 day minimalist game made things move along much more quickly. And that seem to be true no matter the challenge.
• Its easy habit change. Okay maybe easy isn’t the right word but the reasons above give you a good footing to stick out an improvement. In turn sticking it out for 30 days makes it more likely to stick indefinitely. That usually the goal. Whether we care to admit it or not usually we are searching for more then a 30 day improvement. But we aren’t above tricking ourselves.

That’s what it was about for me when I ran across a blog post challenging me to earn more. That was the first challenge I did after joining this community. Find ways to earn extra money ( side hustling ).  The results weren’t great but the new experience was.

The experience and hope for long lasting change is also what prompted me to do the capsule wardrobe. Do some thing that will last much longer then just 30 days. Make a new habit. A challenge stretched out to 3 months with the goal to transform.  I am in my 3rd capsule now.

So here I am again. Getting ready to start another challenge. Use all those benefits to grow in a new area.

Finite timeline, built in sense of urgency and the hope to build a better habit.

My challenge this time around is writing. Consistent writing.

The new challenge

For the next 30( 31?) days I am commanding, committing myself to write 700 word a day. Everyday. But not just that. I need to publish.

So the writing has to be the best I can muster everyday.

Why 700 words?  Well that’s just an arbitrary number I thought would be easy to reach in an hr.

The publishing is important because its really the only way to stay accountable. Nobody would know if I missed a day if all I had to do was write and save it. Sure I would know but this way I can put it out into the world and get feed back. You all will be my critics. So don’t be shy.

Of course I want to keep stuff relevant. This isn’t a blog about writing after all.

So to make it easier I am going to partition  out the month.

• 1 week I’ll be writing parenting
• another travel
• another money
• ?????
• ??? (what there are 5 weeks this month?)

And that leaves one week  2 weeks up in the air. But that will cover the main topics I had planned to cover on this blog anyway.

Will I be able to do it? Will I be able to muster 7 posts on parenting? I better.

Join me and leave me comments and maybe an idea or 2 about something I could cover. I’ll need to have at least 30.

Are you taking on any 30 day challenges today? Let me know in the comments below. Well keep each other accountable.  Don’t forget to follow the blog to see how well I keep it up.

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