Last Updated on
Some years ago I’ve read for the first time that, in order for something to become a habit, you need to do that specific thing for 30 days, constantly, every day.
I’ve tried several times to do this, but I’ve never got to the 30 days limit :) Until recently, when I decided I wanted to write for 30 days on my blog. And I keep doing it, 30 days after that. It kinda worked: last Saturday I remembered I didn’t write at about 10pm, so I actually stopped doing what I was doing and I wrote a blog post.
Since it seems like a good idea, I am actually trying to do 30 days challenges every month from now for the next 3 months (small steps, ok?). What I’ve noticed is it’s better for me to have simpler tasks (not “write a great article, 3000 words long, daily, on your blog, for a month”, but “write a 200 words article daily”). So I am not trying to move mountains yet, a thing that will hopefully change after several completed 30 days challenges.
My next challenge is to stop drinking Cola. Any kind of: Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Cola Zero, Pepsi Light or anything similar. The reason? I don’t drink coffee so any caffeinated drink is too strong for me and I can’t sleep.
I’ve started a week ago, I am still good. I’ve replaced Cola with light sparkling water (I need to compensate the feeling of the bubbles in the back of your throat more than the taste of the drink).
I’ll keep you updated if anything important happens (like… drinking Cola, for example).
If you like the idea and you think you might do something similar, read here the motivations behind the idea and write down in the comments your challenge (maybe you also give me some ideas this way). Also, I’ve found an interesting TED presentation from Matt Cutts (the head of Anti Spam division at Google) talking about exactly this.
I’m really glad to see you’re progressing well with your 30 day challenge, Bobby. Well done! Matt Cutt’s TED video is very inspiring. I’ve achieved a lot myself over the past few months with my 30 day challenges and am really glad I came across this gem of information.
I’m particularly thrilled to see that using the 30 day challenge has allowed you to develop the habits you want to. The fact that you motivated to write a blog post at 10 pm on a Saturday is good proof of this! I think you are also very wise to give yourself realistic goals, such as your 200 word article a day limit. As you say, its not too difficult to achieve this so, of course, anything over and above this is going to be a bonus.
Interestingly, my current challenge is to write an article a day for online sites such as Bubblews. I blog about my progress with this on personal website, this is the latest post: http://nicholas-davies.com/30-day-challenge-september-update/ .
Good luck with your latest challenge of stopping drinking Cola. I’ll be interested to see how you get on,
Thanks a lot for the comment, Nick!
Yeah, it really works. As you can see, actually, since the articles keep appearing on the blog (not the best I can write, obviously, but I am happy with the rhythm). The other thing (which is partly another 30 day challenge) is that I wanted to be more fluent in English and I can achieve it through 30 minutes of “thinking” and writing using the language actively.
Thanks for the mention, also, I really appreciate it.
Hi Bobby,
No problem at all. Your English flows very well, actually – so much so that I thought it was your first language at first impression!
However, that also sounds like a great basis for another 30 day challenge and I’m sure it will help you come along in leaps and bounds!
(Thank you also for the link to the ‘Habits’ article by the way!)
Nick
That’s a great compliment, thank you :))
I am taking small steps, as already said :D
Oh, ain’t I glad to read this post. I’m trying to take my english blog as serious as I take my romanian blog… and it’s kinda hard. :) Gonna try to challenge myself.
PS: I knew it took 21 days to turn something into a habit …
Yeah, I know the feeling :D